


You're the Light

by allwaswell16



Series: You're the Light [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Writing & Publishing, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assistant Louis Tomlinson, Boss Harry, Boss/Employee Relationship, Bottom Louis, Chicago (City), Forbidden Love, Jealousy, M/M, Newspapers, POV Louis, Photo Editor Harry, Photographer Harry, Pining, Sexual Tension, Smut, Social Media, Violence mentioned briefly as parts of news stories, Writer Louis, assistant louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:37:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8033419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allwaswell16/pseuds/allwaswell16
Summary: Before beginning a new graduate school in the fall, Louis Tomlinson decides to spend the summer working in Chicago as an editor’s assistant for the Chicago Tribune newspaper and staying with his old college roommate.  What he finds on his first day of work is a tall, gorgeous editor named Harry who has the most beautiful green eyes he’s ever seen—and who also happens to be his new boss.





	1. June

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Holdmyhalo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holdmyhalo/gifts).



> Many thanks to my beta, Taggiecb, for holding my hand as I panic my way through a fic. Good thing I befriended you long before you had to be my beta. 
> 
> Written for the HL Summer Exchange for Holdmyhalo—I hope you enjoy what I did with your prompt! All the love. xx
> 
> I used real Instagram posts from the Chicago Tribune as inspiration for parts of the fic, so I’ve included some of the links within the story. I am in no way affiliated with the Tribune, just inspired by them. Apologies for any inaccuracies. I took some artistic liberties (lol) about working for a newspaper. Fun fact alert: I actually wrote for one as a columnist, but, alas, I never stepped foot in the office. I just sent things to an editor.
> 
> Playlist:
> 
> Perfect Strangers-Jonas Blue  
> The Next Ten Minutes-Anna Kendrick (The Last Five Years)  
> Starving-Hailee Steinfeld  
> Into You-Ariana Grande  
> The Sound-The 1975  
> Wherever I Go-One Republic  
> Green Eyes-Coldplay  
> Tenerife Sea-Ed Sheeran  
> Trouble-Coldplay  
> Hold You in My Arms-Ray LaMontagne  
> By My Side-Ben Harper  
> Not Too Late-Norah Jones  
> Love Me Like You Do-Ellie Goulding
> 
> See below for Spotify link.

Spotify playlist--[You're the Light playlist](https://play.spotify.com/user/all_was_well_16/playlist/1vdjYy7ZICd63GKwhgh4Xw)

 

*

Louis squints into the sun as he stares out over the lake. His toes sting a bit in the hot summer sand until he moves forward into the water. He pulls his sunglasses back over his eyes.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Liam says as he claps Louis on the back. “So glad you chose Northwestern, man. It’s going to be fucking great having you nearby especially in the city this summer.”

“Yeah, I can’t thank you enough really, letting me stay with you while I figure some shit out.”

“Hey, no problem. I have the room, and it’ll be fun having you around all the time again. Just like old times, ya know?”

“Like sharing our freshman dorm room?”

“Maybe not around quite that much,” Liam laughs. “Well, now that you’ve seen your fancy university’s private beach, let’s go celebrate your first night in Chicago.”

*

When Louis walks out of the bedroom, Liam laughs. “You even look like a writer, Lou.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Louis asks as he looks down at his tight black jeans and black tee shirt.

“Nothing, really. You look great. Trying to get some your first night here? We could head to Boystown if you want.”

“Nah. We don’t have to do that tonight. What did you have in mind?”

“Thought we’d hit up a hotel bar downtown actually. My friend Niall is there for a work party. You remember, him? The sportscaster?”

“Ah, right. The Irish one? So we’re crashing a television party then? Interesting.”

“Thought maybe a more low key night was in order since you’re starting work in the morning.”

“True. I guess for the first day at least I should seem responsible,” Louis grins.

“So what’s the actual work involve then?” Liam asks as they walk out of the apartment.

“Not really sure actually. I’m just some editor’s assistant though. Probably a lot of making coffee and making copies. Hopefully, whoever it is, isn’t pissed that I’ve only got this job because of Dan. It’s really weird to have a step-parent that’s so connected,” Louis says with a shake of his head.

“As long as you show up and do the work, I’m sure he won’t care. Besides, it’s not like there’s someone more qualified out there. You have a creative writing degree from one of the best programs in the country and a Master’s degree in English Literature. I’d say you’re pretty overqualified to be someone’s assistant.”

“Well, my degrees aren’t going to get me much until I finish grad school, I’m afraid. Or you know, until I write a bestseller.”

*

They take the ‘L’ east through the city from Liam’s apartment ending up near the river, kept lit with boats in the night as they walk the rest of the way to the Langham Hotel. “Damn, Li. This place is nice. We’re definitely not in Iowa City anymore.”

Liam laughs as they step onto the elevator to head up to the bar. “Yeah, not quite. I promise it should be pretty relaxed though. We’ll just stop in and see Niall for a drink, and if you want, we can make it an early night or head out somewhere else.”

A decent crowd surrounds the bar as Liam scans the adjoining room looking for Niall. He eventually sees him perched on a curved white couch, his head thrown back laughing. Louis smiles. “Funny, that’s how I think of him every time you talk about him. Always laughing.”

“Yeah, well he’s the same as ever,” Liam says as they make their way through the small crowd.

As soon as they get close, Niall jumps up off the couch to greet them. “Liam! Ya made it! And ya brought Lou, I see. Nice to finally meet ya. I hear ya got a job at the Tribune. You should really meet my mate—“ Niall abruptly stops talking to watch a beautiful woman stride across the room towards the bar. “Ah, be right back,” he says as he heads to the bar.

Liam just laughs. “Let’s go grab some drinks.”

A low voice rumbles from the other side of the couch, “Or you can have mine.”

Louis whips his head around towards the voice. Long, built limbs unfold to stand up in front of him as a pair of green eyes hold Louis in place. Louis can’t remember what this man has even said to him. The neurons in his brain don’t seem to be firing properly. He’s the most beautiful man he’s ever laid eyes on. His hair curls over his broad shoulders in brown waves, a sideways smile seduces him. He wills himself to say something, anything. The man holds out his drink. Oh, the drink. “Not sure I should accept drinks from strangers,” he manages to say.

“Ah, you’re quite right. Safety first. Hello, my name is Harry,” he says as he reaches out to shake Louis’ hand.  “I’m a friend of Niall’s. Can I buy you a drink?”

“Um, I’m Louis. And, uh, sure. I guess,” Louis shrugs as he lets Harry’s hand envelop his own.  He raises an eyebrow at Liam as Harry leads him to the bar, a hand at the small of his back. Louis tries to repress the shiver threatening to pulse up his spine.

“Order whatever you’d like,” Harry grins. His eyes sparkle in the shimmering gold of the overhead lights of the bar, deep dimples marking his face. Louis has never before this moment thought obscene thoughts about dimples.

Louis sips a gin and tonic as he peers over the top of the glass at Harry. Harry watches him intently. It’s a heady sensation to have the focus of a man this beautiful. Louis clears his throat. “So how do you know Niall then?”

“We used to work together,” he answers.

“Oh, you work in television then?” Louis asks.

“I did—“ Harry pauses and glances around the room.

Well, this conversation didn’t appear to be going much of anywhere, but before Louis can try to save it, Harry continues. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding strange, but you’re very beautiful. I’m sorry if I’m coming on too strong. I don’t think I’ve ever offered a stranger my drink before, and to be perfectly honest I’m flustered.”

Louis flushes. “Oh. Um, thanks. I could probably say the same actually.”

“I know that sounds like a line or something, but I’m having trouble coming up with something to say besides talking about your eyelashes and how they fan out over your cheeks when you sip your drink.” Harry laughs and runs a nervous hand through his hair. “Oh god, I’m so sorry. I swear to you, I’m not normally this absurd.”

“No, please. Do go on about my eyelashes.” Louis bats his eyes with a smile.

“I could spend all night talking about them." Harry's smile dims. "Damn, I should really be responsible and go home though. I have to work in the morning, but I’m having trouble tearing myself away now.”

Louis shrugs, a bit disappointed, but about to offer up his phone number. “I’ll be right back,” Harry declares and walks out of the bar.

Louis watches him go, a bit mystified. He looks around for Liam and spots him talking to Niall back in the lounge area, so he makes his way over. Liam smirks as he approaches. “So where’s the handsome man?”

“I don’t know actually. He said he’d be right back though.”

“Niall says he and your new man used to work together.”

“Yeah, we didn’t really get into that much. And he’s not exactly my new man, Liam. He just bought me a drink, and now he’s disappeared.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll run into him again, what with him knowing Niall and all. So no worries if you want to see him again.”

“True.”                                                                                                                                                                                             

“Or maybe you won’t have to wait long after all,” Liam nods in the direction of the entryway into the bar.

Louis looks up to see Harry scanning the room intently until his eyes focus in on his own. He watches as Harry smiles and moves confidently through the people separating them. He sits next to Louis and speaks into his ear over the noise of the music. “I got a room. Now, I don’t have to go home.”

Louis’ eyes widen. “Oh, uh. Okay.”

Harry splays his hands out. “It wasn’t a proposition, Louis. It will be worth it even if you only talk to me for the next ten minutes. Although I hope to at least get your phone number out of the deal.”

Louis looks at Harry’s long fingers spread out across his thigh, rings lining several of them. Fuck, why is that so hot? Louis’ eyes track up Harry’s body, eying the tattoos that peek out from his partially unbuttoned shirt. He meets Harry’s eyes, glimmering with amusement. “Like what you see?”

Louis rubs his hand across the back of his neck. “Heh, yeah, um, just give me a second.” Louis turns to Liam and pulls him off the couch and over to the windows looking out over the city. “Hey, Li, uh, Harry has a room here, so um. I think I’m going to uh, go there with him now.”

Liam laughs. “Okay, man. Sure. Just catch a cab back if you don’t want to stay the night. And you know, be safe and all that. I mean, he’s not a complete stranger, but you know what I mean.”

“Right. Thanks. Oh god, what am I doing?”

“Eh, you’re being young and free. Go get him,” Liam claps a hand on his shoulder and walks off to the bar, leaving Louis standing with his back against the windows.

Louis looks back in Harry’s direction. He’s been watching them. Harry glances toward Liam as he walks away, but then his eyes immediately turn back to Louis. He stands mesmerized as Harry stalks across the room towards him. When he is close enough, Louis can see the lust in his eyes.

“So is he just a friend?” Harry asks. Louis can tell Harry is trying to act casual, but failing.

“Yeah, just a friend. He’s how I know Niall.”

Harry crowds Louis up against the glass. “So what was that about then? Me?” he growls into Louis’ ear. Louis nearly groans as every hair against his neck stands on end.

Louis grabs the front of Harry’s shirt to keep him close. “Let’s go to your room, and I’ll show you.”

Harry wastes no time leading him immediately out of the bar to the hotel elevators. As they ride up they look at each other and smile nervously. “I don’t think I’ve ever done this before,” Harry says.

“What? Never brought a guy back to your hotel room? I find that hard to believe, Harry.”

“Well, I haven’t. And I definitely have never gotten the most expensive hotel room of my life, so I could spend an extra ten minutes talking to someone. I did hope those ten minutes would turn into ten more minutes and maybe ten more after that—“

“Oh.”

“Not that I intend to do a lot of talking once we get there,” he says darkly. “Er, I mean, unless you want—“ The elevator door dings as they arrive at his floor.

“Nope. Talk later,” Louis says as he pulls Harry out of the elevator. “Where’s your room?”

Harry leads him down the corridor quickly and opens the door to a luxurious room overlooking the river. He doesn’t turn on the lamp and instead allows the glow of the city to dimly light the room. Louis isn’t sure what he was expecting, but if he had a chance to think about it, he would have said he expected them to immediately rip their clothes off and fuck on the bed. But that isn’t what happens.

Instead, Harry reaches out his long fingers to fit around Louis’ jaw. He leans in, tucking his other hand around Louis’ waist and waits a few brief moments. Louis’ heart pounds as their breath mingles, their lips parted. He would close the distance, but Harry is holding him firmly in place. Harry finally closes the gap between them and brushes his mouth gently across Louis’ lips as though to slowly coax a response. Louis threads his fingers through Harry’s hair and groans as he slots himself between Harry’s open thighs.

His fingers brush under the back of Louis’ shirt, caressing him carefully as Louis presses himself against him. Harry deepens the kiss momentarily before drawing Louis’ shirt slowly up his body and over his head. He tosses the shirt next to the bed and returns his mouth to Louis’. He runs his hands up and down Louis’ back, seeming to revel in the feel of his bare skin. Louis keeps his hands in Harry’s hair, keeping his lips drawn to his own as Harry finds the button to his jeans and slowly unzips. He draws his fingers around the now loosened edge to Louis’ ass, filling his hands and pressing Louis’ hard dick against his own. Louis moans and Harry releases him to drop to his knees. He tugs Louis’ jeans down over his thighs as he noses along his dick through his thin boxer briefs. Harry grazes his fingers over the back of his thighs, his calves, his ankles as he carefully pulls the jeans completely off. As he stands he runs his fingers back up Louis’ ankles, his calves, his thighs, and over the swell of his bum until he’s again looking into Louis’ hooded eyes.

“I—your—Harry— your clothes,” Louis mumbles, his mind hazy.

Harry nods and unbuttons the few remaining buttons of his shirt and slips it off his shoulders. Louis’ hands fall to Harry’s shoulders and down across the tattoos on his chest. “Fuck, you’re hot,” he says. He can feel the smile on Harry’s lips as they press against his neck, and Louis leans his head back to allow him more access. He can feel Harry slowly walking him backwards until the back of his legs hit the bed. He sits and scoots back, pulling Harry over him. Harry’s hair brushes across his chest as he licks across Louis’ collarbones. His lips move down to flick his tongue over a nipple. Louis tries to push up and gain some friction, but Harry pins his hips down with his hands. Louis hears a low growl asking him what he wants. “Anything,” Louis pants as Harry slowly draws his briefs down under his ass, releasing him, and then taking him into his mouth. Louis shouts out as Harry draws him in and out between his reddening lips. He feels like he could burst into flame at any moment, and Harry still has half his clothes on. He’s close to coming when Harry’s lips draw back. Louis looks down to see Harry intensely staring up at him. “Harry?” he croaks.

“I need to know what you want, Louis. Do you want me to finish with my mouth until you come down my throat? Do you want my fingers inside you until you scream? Do you want to ride me as I push up into you? Do you want me to fuck you into the mattress until everyone on this hotel floor knows my name?” Harry licks a stripe up the underside of his dick. “I’m also open to suggestions.”

Louis’ mouth hangs open, his eyes wide. “I—yes—please—fuck—take off your fucking clothes, Harry.”

Louis hears a low chuckle as Harry slides off the bed and peels his jeans down his legs. He takes something out of the pocket and places it on the nightstand. Louis eyes him greedily. “Jesus fucking Christ, Harry,” he says as he gets a look at Harry, hard and very large.

Harry reaches for the packet on the stand and slicks up his fingers as he sits back on the bed between Louis’ legs. “You still haven’t told me what you want, Louis,” he says as his finger brushes over Louis’ hole.

“Harry! Please—fuck—more—yes—any of it,” he spits out as he tries to press into Harry’s finger. Harry gives in, pressing one long finger inside of him as Louis cries out. He pushes in and out, watching Louis as he grips the sheets of the bed in his fists. He adds another finger to his motions and Louis cries out his name frantically. “Harry, please. I’m ready. I swear. Please—please—please—“ he begs as Harry adds a third finger. Louis whimpers as Harry’s fingers withdraw from him. He hadn’t realized he’d closed his eyes, but he opens them to see Harry rolling a condom on and lining himself up. Sweat drips down Harry’s brow as he restrains himself, his biceps bulging on either side of Louis’ body. Harry slowly pushes in and holds himself still with a gasp. Louis watches the anguish on his face as he struggles to keep control. Louis threads his fingers through Harry’s hair and yanks him forward to look him in the eye “Fuck me,” he commands as Harry finally loses the last thread of his control and fucks Louis up into the bed. His hands find Louis’ hands, and he holds them above Louis’ head as they find a rhythm.

It isn’t Harry’s name that the other hotel guests will remember though as Harry loudly calls out Louis’ name over and over as they come.

Harry bows his head, a curtain of curls falling alongside Louis’ face. He’s still inside him. With a weak moan, Harry slowly pulls out and lays on his back beside Louis. He rolls the condom off and ties it, tossing it in the vicinity of the small trash can near the nightstand. He turns back, propping himself on an elbow to look down intently at the man before him. Louis stares back for a moment before allowing his face to settle into a smile. “Hi,” he says, feeling a bit silly. He wonders what people say to strangers after they have the best sex of their lives.

“Hi,” Harry says back. He’s not smiling though. His eyes still burn with heat as he begins to trace the tattoos across Louis’ collarbones. Louis watches his fingers as they go over each line of ink down Louis’ arm, carefully turning over his wrist before pressing his lips to the rapidly beating pulse there. He stills.

Harry’s eyes fly back to Louis’. “I’m sorry,” he begins. “I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable. It’s just that I don’t think I’ve ever been this attracted to someone in my life. I want to taste every inch of your skin.”

Louis’ eyes widen.

“Oh god. I’m so sorry. That sounded horribly creepy, didn’t it?” Harry covers his eyes with his hand as he shakes with laughter. “Fuck, I can’t believe I said that.”

Louis lets out a loud laugh, his eyes crinkling with mirth. Harry lays back on the bed as their laughter builds into a crescendo of tears. Louis wipes his eyes and sits up. “I’m going to clean up a bit,” he says, his nose scrunched as he looks down at the mess still across his stomach. He knows Harry is watching him walk to the bathroom, so he makes it worth his while. “I know you’re staring at my ass, you creep,” he calls out as he opens the door.

Harry groans, “I want to taste that, too,” as Louis closes the door with a giggle.

Louis washes up quickly and returns to the bed. “You can stay if you’d like,” Harry says. “I promise to stop, you know, licking you long enough for you to get some sleep.”

Louis grins. “Uh, yeah. I’ll stay if that’s okay. I’ll just set an early alarm. I have my first day of work in the morning, and I need to get back to my friend’s to change.”

After Louis sets the alarm, Harry takes the phone from him and sends a text. “I just texted myself, so you have my number in case you want to do this again sometime. Well, not this precisely, uh—I mean—just if you wanted to see me again or—”

“I know what you mean, Harry.”

“Oh. Okay.”

A small moment of awkwardness appears as they both silently wonder how to fall asleep. Should they be cuddling? Face each other? Face away? Flat on their backs? Louis tentatively opens his arm towards Harry, and without any hesitation Harry slides into the space. Louis rests his chin amidst the curls as he drifts off.

*

Morning comes all too soon. Louis silences the alarm as quickly as possible to avoid waking the sleeping man beside him. He quietly dresses and takes a last look at the parted lips and soft curls spread across the pillowcase. It doesn’t feel like a one night stand, and Louis doesn’t feel like he’s sneaking away. He’ll text him when he gets off work. Maybe see if he’s free for dinner sometime this week.

Louis takes a cab back to Liam’s apartment. He doesn’t want to chance being late on the first day. He dresses fairly conservatively as he doesn’t really know what he’s in for yet, pulling on grey dress slacks and a white collared shirt. He decides he has enough time to take the ‘L’ and still be early.

When he walks up to the Chicago Tribune building, a sense of awe washes over him. It truly is an astounding building, an amazing neo gothic beauty set amidst some of the most innovative and experimental architecture in the world. He glances back in the general direction of the Langham, only a few blocks away, and wonders briefly if Harry has left yet or if he’s still lying between the cool, white sheets he left a short time ago.

He makes his way through the ornate interiors up into the elevators that lead to the much more modern look of the newspaper offices. Long concrete beams cut through the large, open spaces.  He inquires at the first desk about his appointment with HR and is ushered into a small office. A very pretty young woman enters and introduces herself. “Hello, Louis. I’m Eleanor Calder. I work in HR here, and I just wanted to let you know where you’ve been assigned. We usually just use additional interns to help our editors, but our photo editor has some new responsibilities with social media. So we figured you’d be the right fit for that.”

Louis doesn’t correct her, but that sounds like the absolute wrong fit. What the fuck does he know about photography or photo editing? His degrees are in creative writing and literature for fuck’s sake. He reminds himself he’s just an assistant. Coffee and copies. He can do this.

Eleanor begins leading him back through the concrete paths as she explains. “You’ll be working for Harry Styles.” Louis tenses at the name. Odd to find another person named Harry brought up, not really the most common name in the Midwest.  “He’s really quite talented. Used to work in television, but we snatched him up when we got the chance. I’m sure you’ll get along fabulously. This is your desk and cubicle area right here outside his office. I think he just arrived a short time ago, so—“ She knocks lightly at the door.

A deep voice answers the knock, “Come in.” A chill runs up Louis’ spine, but before his mind can catch up, Eleanor opens the door and says, “Hi, Harry! I have your new assistant here to meet with you.” She walks the rest of the way into the office as Louis stands stock still in the doorway. She smiles back at Harry and says, “Harry, this is Louis Tomlinson. Louis, this is Harry Styles, your new boss.”

The color has drained from Harry’s face. A forgotten piece of paper still in his hands as he stares in shock at Louis. Louis still hasn’t moved from the doorway. His body doesn’t seem to be in his power at the moment, and while Harry’s face has paled, Louis’ face is burning from the inside out. Eleanor remains oblivious and removes herself from the room without a second glance at either of them.

“I—“

“You’re—“

They both stop to let the other speak.

“What—“

“I didn’t—“

They both stop again and let the silence fall. They stare at each other for a few moments before Harry seems to gain some small control over himself. Louis still stands just inside the door as Harry brushes past him to close the door behind him. Louis startles and jumps back.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Harry seems to realize he’s still very close to Louis’ personal space and backs up a few paces before turning his back to him and retreating back behind his desk. “Fuck,” he says quietly as he places the paper in his hands into a pile on his desk.

“Yeah.”

Harry clears his throat. “Well, um, please take a seat, Louis. I assume they haven’t explained much about the position, but I’m quite pleased to have a more formal assistant over an intern. I’m hopeful that you’ll be able to do some of the social media posting for Instagram and Facebook, so I can take that off my plate to concentrate more on the actual photography and video that needs to be posted on the website and some in print. I’m assuming you’re familiar with those? And honestly, if you have other social media ideas for us, we’d be all ears. They’re in the process of finding a social media director, so for now I’ve taken over some of the tasks of one. It’s why I get an assistant instead of an intern.”

Louis’ head spins. Is Harry really just telling him about the job right now? He isn’t going to say anything about how a few short hours ago the cross necklace dangling around Harry’s neck was brushing against his skin as Harry moved inside him? Louis realizes he is still standing still in the middle of the room. He walks over to a chair opposite Harry’s desk and sits down carefully. “Uh, Harry, don’t you think we should talk—“

Harry runs a hand through his hair as he interrupts him. “Louis, fuck. Sorry. I’m a little at a loss right now. I obviously had no idea you were starting work here. And now that you’re apparently my assistant, I—well, that changes some of what I said about last night.”

Louis has no idea how Harry is able to think things through so quickly. He feels like he’s still in shock from the first moment he realized Harry is his new boss. A strange emotion crosses his mind. Disappointment, maybe, that it’s so easy for Harry to dismiss last night as just a fuck. It hadn’t seemed that way to him, and a thread of foolishness weaves its way through the disappointment. “Okay,” he manages to answer.

Harry looks like he’d rather be anywhere but in front of Louis. “Well, Eleanor showed you your desk area I’m sure. If you’d like to get settled a bit. I’ll let you know when I need you.”

Louis stands up at the sign of dismissal. “Right.” He walks back out the door and sits at his desk. He has no tasks. He really wishes he had coffee or copies to make. It’s taking all his will to not lay his head down on his desk.

He spends the next ten minutes attempting to wrap his mind around what’s just happened. Thoughts and pictures careen wildly through his head. Harry’s deep dimples as he offers him his drink, the feel of Harry’s light touches across his body, the taste of mint on his tongue, the look of torture on his face as he held himself still inside him, the way all color drained from his face the second Louis walked into his office. Fuck, he slept with his boss. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He turns and eyes Harry’s office door warily. Is Harry ever going to come out of there and give him something to do? Apparently not.

Okay, so his only clues so far for this job is to help post visual content on social media. Well, he absolutely can’t sit here and do nothing all day. He’ll lose his mind. He turns on the computer at his desk and plugs in his phone. He spends some time becoming familiar with the Tribune’s Facebook page and Instagram. The photos are incredible really. He browses the website a bit as well and searches for a Snapchat that doesn’t seem to exist. He watches a few Snapchat stories from other publications.

A few interns and other people who work in the department stop to introduce themselves and say hello. He notices a few of the nearby desks remain empty throughout the morning. He walks by them and sees they belong to staff photographers. Probably out on assignment. So great, he works in a semi-empty area with a boss who is pretending he doesn’t exist. Perfect.

Harry finally emerges from his office around noon. Louis looks up in anticipation that Harry has some directive for him, finally. “Hi. Well, I guess you’ve had time to familiarize yourself with—ah, your desk.” He looks down at the mostly empty desk in front of Louis and at least has the grace to look a little embarrassed.

“Yeah, I know my way around this desk pretty well now.” Fuck. That sounded worse out loud. He probably shouldn’t talk to his boss like this.

“Right. Well, why don’t you go ahead and take your lunch, and I’ll see you back here after that.”

Really? He’s given him nothing to do and now he’s supposed to go eat lunch. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Harry nods before turning around and walking back into his office.

Louis stands up with a sigh. Harry hasn’t told him how long to take for lunch, but he’s guessing the longer he takes the better. He walks toward the river and keeps heading west. This has been hands down the most humiliating day of his life. He wants to just quit and go home, but that’s not really an option. He needs to be in the city to look for someplace to live when he starts grad school. He would hate to not be able to pay Liam some kind of rent for letting him stay with him, so he kind of needs this. And he definitely doesn’t want to have to ask his step father for more money or more favors.

He stops when he finds himself in front of the Langham again. He climbs the steps up to the plaza and heads into an outdoor patio area and sits down at the bar. He orders some tacos and thinks about how much he’d like a real drink right now.

The beginnings of a headache builds up behind his eyes as he presses against the bridge of his nose to relieve the pressure.

The bartender looks at him with sympathy. “Bad morning at work?”

“Uh, yeah. First day actually.”

“Ouch. Bad already, huh? You work nearby?”

“Yeah, at the Tribune” Louis replies. “You could say last night caught up with me.”

“I hear that,” he says as he refills his soda. “So you gonna quit?”

“Nope. Can’t quit. Gotta help my friend out with the rent.”

“You in the city? ‘Cause rent is insane here, man.”

“Yeah, my friend I’m staying with has an incredible apartment, actuallly. He’s an engineer. I can’t even afford to pay half his rent for him, but I definitely want to help out what I can for the summer.”

“Nice. You looking for your own place after that?”

“Yeah, I’m going to Northwestern in the fall, so I need somewhere near campus then.”

“Really? Damn, you must be smart, bro. Hold on a sec. Let me get you something,” he says as he reaches for his wallet and pulls out a business card.

“My name’s Ed by the way, and my brother-in-law is a broker if you need help looking for a place.”

“Thanks, Ed. I might need one of those,” Louis says with a nod. He finishes his tacos and calls out a goodbye to the bartender as he reluctantly retraces his steps back to the Tribune.

He slides back into his chair with a sigh. The business card he stuffed in his front pocket pokes him, so he takes it out and taps it on his desk. The door to Harry’s office is still closed. He doesn’t even know if he’s in there or not. He’s back to wondering what the fuck he should do when the door swings open. He turns toward it instinctively. “Oh,” Harry says, seemingly startled. “You’re back from lunch already.”

“That I am. I was gone nearly an hour, so yeah. Anyway, you didn’t really say how long I had for lunch, so I just made a guess.”

“Um. No, that’s fine. An hour’s fine. Well, for today anyway. If we’re busy, probably less than that.”

“Okay,” Louis says as he lays the business card down.

“What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“Whose card is that?”

“Oh. Uh, the bartender’s at the Lan—where I had lunch, I mean. Well, his brother-in-law’s, actually. He’s a broker. Can maybe help me find a place when I start school in the fall.”

Harry’s eyes seem to be burning a hole in the card. “Seems kind of presumptuous to give you his card like that.”

“Uh, well, it’s not actually his card, is it? And we were talking about it, so it kind of made sense in context, I guess.”

“I guess.”

Louis is genuinely confused by this line of questioning. What the fuck does it matter that he got some business card at lunch? Harry is still just standing outside his office door staring at him. “Um, do you need anything? Coffee?”

“No, thank you. I don’t need anything. Why don’t you spend some time familiarizing yourself with the website and social media accounts? Go ahead and just do that for the rest of the afternoon.” Harry beams at him though as he’s given him a great task, so Louis doesn’t say anything about having already done that. Harry shuts himself back into his office.

Louis leaves at five o’clock without laying eyes on Harry the rest of the day.

*

The journey back to Liam’s feels very different than it did this morning. The blocks to the nearest 'L' station seem awfully long. He has to switch trains. The loop is fucking miserable at this hour. And the trains perched far too high above the ground seem like death traps about to fall off the damn tracks. He makes a mental note to check out the bus schedule. Now, he understands why Liam chose an apartment close to his job. As he walks through the neighborhood he realizes how not Liam it is. Divvy bike stations. Whole Foods. Diners with gluten free and dairy free menus. Even the doughnut shop looks fancy. It makes him smile to think of Liam navigating this neighborhood. Safe to say he picked this place for proximity to work.

“Honey, I’m home!” Louis calls out.

“What’s up?” Liam answers from the kitchen. “Want a drink?”

“Fuck yes. Fuck. Yes. I need a fucking drink, Liam. A really big fucking drink.”

“You got it, Tommo. Is everything okay though? Why do you need a big drink?”

“You wouldn’t even believe me if I told you,” Louis groans as he throws himself dramatically across Liam’s couch.

Liam comes back with two beers and hands one to Louis. “So what happened today, anyway?”

“Does this beer honestly say “Fist City” on it or am I losing my mind?”

Liam flushes a little. “Oh. Well, yeah it does. Look, living in this neighborhood eventually gets to you, okay? It’s pretty good really.  A pale ale. It’s from a pretty cool brewery in Logan Square.  I’ll take you there sometime, but are you ever going to tell me what happened today?”

“Oh. Yeah, well,” Louis rubs the back of his neck before taking a long drink. “Hmmm, this is pretty good.”

“Louis.”

“Yes?”

“Just spit it out.”

“No, Liam, I won’t spit out this lovely craft beer you’ve given me. Fine, okay, I’ll just say it,” Louis takes a deep breath. “My new boss turned out to be the guy I slept with last night. Surprise!”

“Uhhhhhh. Jesus. Okay, well, fuck. Lou--Christ, I don’t know what to say. So the guy? From last night? Niall’s friend? You walked in and he was your boss?”

“Well, yes, pretty much.”

Liam bursts into laughter. “Oh my fucking god, Lou!” He continues to laugh hysterically until he’s wiping tears from his eyes. “Oh, god. I’m so sorry, but fuck, I can’t believe it!” He tries to take a drink and ends up laughing again and snorting it through his nose.

Louis glares at him. “Serves you right. My life is ruined, and you’re laughing about it.”

As Liam’s laughter dies down, he asks, “Okay, so what happened when you showed up?”

“Well, it was awkward as fuck, Liam. Obviously, he had no idea I was going to be his assistant. He’s the photo editor. So I’ve been assigned as his assistant, which is just fucking great. I don’t know shit about photography.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s your biggest problem here, Lou.”

“Fuck off, Liam. You think I don’t know that? At first he just started talking to me as if we were going to just pretend last night never happened or something.”

“No way.”

“Yeah, but I said something, so we kind of talked about it. But then, he spent the rest of the day basically ignoring me. He barely left his office. He must have been holding his piss all damn day. It was boring as fuck to have nothing to do.” Louis groans. “God, I’m dreading tomorrow. What if he tries to ignore me all day again?”

“Dude. No. You’ll have to say something if he tries that again. Doesn’t he need help with his work? Why else would he need an assistant? He’ll have to give you things to do tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re right. If he tries to pull that shit again, I’ll call him on it,” Louis sighs and takes a long gulp of his beer. “Think I’m gonna need another one of these.”

*

Louis arrives on time to work to find a closed office door. He lasts about twenty minutes before politely knocking. He hears a muffled sound that he takes to mean to enter, but as he walks in, Harry says, “I said, just a moment” as Louis watches him hop on one foot, grimacing.

“Oh, I couldn’t really hear what you said. Sorry, but are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine. I just—when you knocked, it startled me. So I kind of stubbed my toe on the desk.”

“Ah, I see,” Louis tries to stifle a smile.

Harry watches him. “I can see you smirking, you know.”

Louis grins wider. “Sorry, sorry. I actually came to ask you what you’d like me to do.”

“Oh. Right. Well, why don’t you spend some more time today familiarizing yourself with our Facebook and Instagram accounts.”

“Harry, I did that yesterday morning. There’s only so much to see on there.”

“Well, that’s all I really had planned for you to do today, so—“

“Harry, you can’t just ignore me.”

“I’m just trying to stay professional.” Louis is pretty sure this is the least professional situation he’s been in.

“Hate to break it to you, but it’s not very professional to ignore your assistant and give them nothing to do when you need help.”

“Well, what did you think this job would be, anyway?” Harry says a bit defensively.

“Honestly, fetching coffee and making copies, but you clearly don’t need me to do those things. So use me for what you do need.”

Harry’s eyes widen for a moment, but then he seems to gather himself, “I’ll write down some passwords. You can go ahead and post a few things.”

“Harry, unfortunately I don’t know much about photography. I have a degree in creative writing that doesn’t seem to be very useful in this case. I’m going to need more direction than this, I’m afraid.”

“Right. Okay,” Harry runs a hand through his hair. “Uh, give me some time to think this through, and then I’ll let you know the plan.”

Louis manages to hold his tongue, but he can’t help wondering why Harry didn’t have a plan for how to use or train his assistant. He suspects he did have a plan, but he has probably decided to alter it based on the fact that he knows what his assistant looks like when he comes. He drags himself back to his desk and begins to look at apartments to rent near campus.

He’s not sure how long he expects Harry to take to create this plan, but he startles when the door to Harry’s office swings open less than an hour later. He turns to see Harry smiling, his dimples marking his cheeks. Louis swallows and tries to remember to curb his thoughts. “Okay, Louis, why don’t you come on in? I think I have this worked out now.”

As he sits in a chair opposite the desk, Louis notices that Harry’s left the office door open. Maybe he always does that, he thinks. Although he hasn’t had it open at all since he started here. “Open door policy?” Fuck. Why does he not have a better filter?

The smile on Harry’s face falters. “Well—sometimes.” Harry stares at the open door for a few long moments. “I suppose I keep it open if I’m available to talk and closed when I’m busy or need to be alone. And I’m busy now, so—“ He stands up and firmly shuts the door.

The air in the room immediately changes with the click of the door. Louis can feel the charge of electricity pass between them as Harry walks back to his desk. He wonders if Harry can feel it, too. Harry begins to try to speak, but he has to clear his throat a few times and finally takes a few gulps of water from a bottle. “Sorry about that,” he croaks. “Must be coming down with something.” Louis watches him take a few more gulps and can’t help but remember what else had been between those lips. He can feel his face begin to burn, and he just wishes he could keep his damn mouth shut for once.  His new personal motto is going to be: shut the fuck up.

“So a plan?” Louis begins.

“Right. Yes, a plan.” The color begins to return to Harry’s face, and Louis can sense Harry slipping back into editor mode. “You said you were a writer, and I thought of a way to maybe best use those skills for now. There are so many amazing photographs that come through this office, but we need the ones that either tell a story on their own or best support an already written one. For Facebook it’s really just about choosing the best photo to represent the piece, basically one that best symbolizes it or summarizes it. There will already be a series of photos once you click on the article, but we need one with the headline to capture the reader’s attention as well. So at some point I’ll likely have you do that as part of your daily work. But I sort of have an idea about something, so I’d like to see if you’re up to it.” He looks at Louis before he continues.

“Great. Mind if I write this down? I’m used to keeping notes on things.”

“Of course,” Harry replies. He slides a pen and a piece of paper across his desk to Louis. Louis leans forward at the same time and hears the shaky breath Harry releases as they physically near each other. Louis determines it’s best not to think what that was about as he scribbles down the directives about Facebook.

“I’ll just type it up later,” Louis mentions.

“Uh, okay, so my idea was about Instagram actually. Photographers don’t seem to write the best captions. I thought what I’d do was give you a few photos to choose between and have you write some more creative captions with them. And maybe you could come up with some better hashtags for them, to get them seen a bit more than they are now. I’d like to approve the first few you do, but I’m hoping to be able to just hand this over to you fairly quickly if it goes well.” Harry smiles, pleased with himself.

“Well, okay. That sounds pretty good then. A lot more interesting than I thought my job here would be.”

“It definitely got interesting.”

“What?”

“Uh, nothing. Um, I’ll send you a few photos to choose from on your email. Just send me back what you come up with.”

Louis smiles. He’s actually looking forward to this. Harry seems to be watching him with an indiscernible look. Louis stands up and gives him a quick smile and nod before he turns and walks toward the door. He hears Harry make an odd noise and looks back as he reaches for the handle. Harry appears to be appreciating the fit of Louis’ slacks. “My eyes are up here, boss,” Louis quips before he can think. Fuck. He quickly opens the door and flees without looking back to see Harry’s reaction.

*

Louis opens his email with anticipation. Harry has sent him some incredible photos to choose from, but Louis reminds himself to choose the ones that tell a story. There are two that really stand out to him. One is a close up of a gorilla’s profile, her eyes watching the photographer. The other is the back of a shirtless man wearing the bottom half of a baseball uniform and a baseball cap, a large tattoo covering his entire back. There are definitely stories to be told here.

He spends the rest of the morning finding out more about the photos. He tracks down the sports writer writing about the baseball player and gathers a few quotes to use. He looks up a bit more about the gorillas living at the Lincoln Park Zoo, but there isn’t a credit for the photographer on this photo.

Louis decides to start with the baseball player’s photo.

[<Link to Instagram post>](https://www.instagram.com/p/BGDS44POLUH/?taken-by=chicagotribune)      

“Chicago White Sox infielder, Tyler Saladino, lost his best friend to a drunk driving accident in 2008. When the needle first punctured the skin on his back, Saladino wanted to quit. “It was brutal,” he says as he looks out across an empty U.S. Cellular Field. “But that was the process I needed.” As the pain pulsed on, in the end taking thirty hours to complete, his inner pain began to find a release. As the hours passed, he spoke of his friend, Nikko Maeva. He talked. He cringed. He cried. Although he knows the pain of losing his friend will never truly leave him, he also knows it means they’ll never be apart.” Read more on this story from sportswriter Paul Skrbia at chicagotribune.com. Photo: E. Jason Wambsgans #tattoo #chicagowhitesox #themanwiththedragontattoo”

He decides to keep it a bit simpler with the gorilla photo.

[<Link to Instagram post>](https://www.instagram.com/p/BGIfCOduLUS/?taken-by=chicagotribune) 

“A western lowland gorilla peers knowingly at the viewer in her enclosure at the @LincolnParkZoo Regenstein Center for African Apes. The Lincoln Park Zoo has famously found success with breeding this critically endangered species. Photo: ?  #GorillaSpeciesSurvivalPlan #gorillas #lincolnpark #lincolnparkzoo”

Louis stares at the photo awhile longer. It’s so striking. He wonders who took it. There’s clearly some kind of connection between the photographer and the gorilla, the knowing look from the gorilla and the clear empathy from the photographer to capture the intelligence of this animal with just a photograph.

He wonders if he should go ahead and send it to Harry.

Someone clears his throat. “Hi, Louis.”

Louis whips his head around, startled. One of the interns is standing near his desk. “Oh. Sorry, didn’t see you there. Hi, what’s up?”

“Some of us are headed to lunch. Would you like to come?”

“Oh. Uh, sure, I guess,” Louis says, surprised that it’s already time for lunch. He has no one else to eat with anyway. Harry apparently never leaves his office. “Max, right?” he says as he stands and closes out of the document.

“Yep. I’m Max. And Sophia and Perrie said they’d join us, too,” Max replies as they head toward the elevators. The four of them start off on a hunt for salad and sandwiches.

They find some outdoor seating at a café and order. Louis eyes Max surreptitiously. Max is quite striking really. He’s wearing a black graphic sweatshirt, layered with a paisley collared shirt beneath it, and tight black trousers. “Aren’t you hot in that?”

Max deliberately misunderstands as he runs a hand through his hair. “Why thank you, Louis! I do think I look quite hot in this ensemble.”

Perrie laughs and smacks Max’s arm. “He always puts fashion above function, you’ll find.”

“Ouch,” Max complains as he rubs his arm.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t already brought it up, but Max here supplements his pathetic intern money with modeling,” Sophia mentions.

“Ah, okay,” Louis replies. “I’ll come to you for fashion advice then.”

Max eyes light up. “I could do amazing things with your body.”

The girls burst out laughing as Louis blushes a bit. “Uh, okay then.”

Max glares at them. “Whatever. It’s not like the entire office hasn’t noticed Louis is beautiful. We’d all be gossiping about how you got the job if we didn’t already know.”

Louis frowns at that, ready to defend himself. “No, no, don’t defend yourself to us. It makes sense for the photography interns to be out there with the photographers. And for the editor to need a different creative type as an assistant. Speaking of your editor, how is it going working with Hot Lips Harry? Just watching the two of you from across the room raises the temperature of the whole place.”

“What? Why?” Louis asks a bit panicked as his mind replays a moment with those lips.

“Um, because you’re both hot as fuck, Louis. Are you happy you made me say it out loud?”

Louis presses his lips together. He doesn’t know what to say, so he just says, “Thanks,” and stuffs his sandwich in his mouth. “So Hot Lips Harry, huh? Do I have a nickname, too?”

Perrie and Sophia immediately begin laughing. Max rolls his eyes. “Of course, you do. I prefer ‘Ass and Sass,’ myself.” Max’s eyes sparkle as he leans in, “I’ve seen how you talk to Harry. Definitely sassy for an assistant.” Louis can feel his cheeks burning.

Perrie points to Sophia amidst her giggles, “This one calls you ‘Peaches.’

Sophia gasps and fires back, “Well, she calls you ‘Honey Booty!’

Max raises an eyebrow as he grins at Louis. “Sorry you asked?”

Louis laughs. “Maybe.”

After lunch, they walk through a maze of skyscrapers back to the office. As they near the photography desks, Max wiggles his eyebrows to Louis at the sight of Harry standing at Louis’ desk with a frown.

“See you, Peaches,” he calls out as they all walk off back to their respective areas.

Harry watches as Louis approaches. Louis squirms a bit under the intensity of his stare. “Peaches? You already have an inappropriate nickname?”

“Um, well. I wouldn’t call ‘Peaches’ inappropriate per se. They’re just having a bit of fun. And it’s definitely more appropriate than the other ones they mentioned.” Louis keeps his chair between them, but they’re still close enough to one another to cause Louis some awkwardness.

“Are they making you uncomfortable? Because I will have a talk with them myself if need be.”

“No, really, Harry. It’s fine.” He holds his tongue from saying Harry is the one making him uncomfortable.

“Okay, well, ‘Peaches’ doesn’t seem appropriate to me as it’s clearly referring to your—well—your—you know.” Harry looks up at the ceiling as though he can’t believe what he’s just said.

“Uh, yeah. Um, I get the meaning,” says Louis, torn between laughter and embarrassment. “Your nickname is just as bad.”

“I have one? What’s mine? Oh god, never mind. I don’t want to know. Anyway, I don’t suppose you were able to complete anything before you went off to lunch with your new friends.”

Louis frowns. “Actually, I was about to send you what I got done before they showed up to invite me to lunch. Should I have cleared that with you? Lunch, I mean? It didn’t seem like anything pressing was happening, so I took about forty-five minutes. I didn’t want to bother you. Your door was closed. As usual.” Damn, he’s gone one step too far again. This is probably what Max says he can see from across the room.

Harry clears his throat. “Ah, no. That’s fine. Lunch, I mean. It’s fine. I just came out to talk to you, and you weren’t here.”

“Well, would you like to see what I’ve got done then?”

“Of course.”

Louis sits in the chair and pulls up the photograph of the baseball player first. He slides his chair to one side as much as possible, but it’s not much. Harry still has to loom over him to read the screen. “Well, first of all, I like the one you’ve chosen. I would have chosen that photo myself.” He then reads the screen, focused on the words. “Well,” he says as he finishes and straightens. He’s still too close to Louis in the small cubicle. “Louis this is—well, it’s impressive. Beyond just peaking interest, it’s given a great segue into finding and reading the full article. I don’t think they should all be this long in word count, but for this particular photo I think it really worked.”

Louis smiles. “Thanks. I’m glad you think it works. I definitely did a much fewer word count on the other photograph I worked on.” He pulls up the photo of the gorilla. “I don’t know who took the photo. It didn’t say, but here’s what I came up with,” he says as he again slides to one side to allow Harry access to the screen. Harry has an odd look on his face as he looks down at the screen to read it.  He looks back at Louis as he finishes.

Before Harry can speak, Louis begins an explanation. “I wanted to keep it simple as the photograph is so powerful on its own. It really tells the story just within the photo, but I wanted to maybe push any viewer who doesn’t sense the human connection to do so. I’d love to know who took it. I could really feel the empathy in it. It’s quite amazing.”

Harry remains silent for a moment as he looks down at Louis. “I took it. You can credit me. The password is: citybythelake1967. Go ahead and post them. I’ll send you a few others to work on for this afternoon.” He turns and walks back into his office and shuts the door.

Louis looks back down at the photo on the screen, trying to wrap his mind around Harry. So Harry took this photograph. It’s not like he didn’t know Harry must be a photographer. Who is this man? He tries to remember that this man is his boss, but he feels the push and pull between them. It’s hard to ignore. He sighs and pulls up another photograph.

The rest of the week follows a similar pattern. Harry’s office door remains closed with most of his directives to Louis coming via email. Everything Louis chooses and writes about comes back approved to post, so he supposes that means whatever it is he’s doing is fine. Not that anyone actually tells him that or gives him any feedback. It’s fine really, albeit a bit strange, to be an assistant to someone you barely see.

He’s just finished writing about a mural set to be torn down with the building when Max comes by for lunch. “Glad it’s Friday, Peaches?”

“Uh, yeah, I suppose. You guys feel like tacos? They have some great ones at the Langham. Not traditional ones, but they’re good. Outdoor seating, too.”

They reach the Langham, and as they approach the patio, Louis glances back at the entryway into the hotel, remembering. He shakes it off and says a quick hello to Ed at the bar before finding some seats.

“You know the bartender, then?” Max asks.

“Not really. Just talked to him last time I was here when I sat at the bar. He gave me his brother-in-law’s card. He’s a broker, said maybe he could help me with an apartment this fall.”

Perrie glances up from her plate. “So what’s going on with Harry anyway?”

“Uh, what do you mean?”

“Well, he like locks himself in his office all the time now. Just wondered if you knew why.”

“Did he not always do that then? I guess I don’t know why,” he says. He’s pretty sure he knows why.

“Probably just trying to keep from ravishing Louis here. I’ve seen the way he eats you up with his eyes,” Max says with a wink.

“Stop making him uncomfortable, Max,” Perrie says as she thwaps Max on the arm. “It must be hard enough to have Hot Lips for a boss and not be able to do anything about it. Although I don’t know if you’d even be interested, Louis.”

“Oh, uh. No—er, yes—I mean, I don’t know if I’d be interested in Hot Lips—er, Harry. But yes, I’m gay if that’s what you’re asking. Or did you mean single? I’m that, too, I suppose.”

“Very interesting,” Perrie says as she gives him a sly smile. “I’ll have to think of someone to set you up with.”

“Hey!” Max pouts. “Why is no one setting Louis up with me?”

“Ugh, way too much drama,” Sophia says. “You’d break up the second week and then we’d never hear the end of it. And then, no more fun lunches.”

“Well, she’s right, Louis,” Max sighs. “Our romance was short lived and ill fated, I suppose.”

“I’ll say. Only lasted about thirty seconds. That’s a new record for me.”

“Eh, I’ve probably had shorter. So who were you thinking of, Perrie?”

“Hot Luke,” Perrie claps her hands together. “The one who’s in the business office. Ugh, he’s so hot. I guess I’m not sure he’s gay. We’ll all have to hang out, and I’ll figure it out.”

“Speaking of hanging out, do you have plans this weekend, Louis?” Max asks. “The girls and I are going out dancing.”

“Oh, yeah, kind of. I’m going to hang out with Liam probably. I think one of his friends is having people over at his place, so we’ll probably go there one night.”

“Well, feel free to tag along with us sometime if you’d like. And you can bring your friend.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll come hang out sometime,” Louis assures them with a smile.

 

*

“So what exactly am I supposed to wear to Niall’s, Liam?”

“Whatever you want, Lou,” Liam replies. “You can go pretty casual. It’s just a UFC fight we’re watching tonight there. But we can head out somewhere else afterward, if you want.”

“No, casual is fine. Rather not have a late night, if it’s all the same to you. Work’s stressful, and part of me wants to just crawl back into bed,” Louis says as he struggles into some tight black jeans.

“I thought work was going okay now!” Liam says, surprised. “You said he actually gave you stuff to do, and you kind of liked it!”

“No, I do. I do. Just it’s awkward, you know?”

“Oh. The whole I-slept-with-my-boss thing.”

“Yeah, that. The other interns sort of know something is up, but I don’t think they’d dream of thinking the truth.” Louis pulls a white graphic tee out of his closet and pulls it over his head. “Let me just fix my hair, and we can go.”

When they enter Niall’s townhouse, Louis realizes he’s made a big mistake. Liam immediately looks at him with alarm written plainly across his face. Great, he needs someone to tell him not to panic, and Liam is ready to climb down the fire escape.

“Come on in!” Niall calls out loudly, causing them both to cringe. “Whatcha standing in the door for? I got Guinness in the fridge, mates, as well as some fancy shit Harry’s brought wit ‘em. Think he even brought some wine.” Niall claps Louis on the back harder than he was prepared for as he jostles Louis forward. “I mean, wha’s that even about, right? Who drinks wine to watch Conor McGregor beat the tar outta someone?”

Niall is steering them towards the kitchen, an arm still around Louis’ shoulder. “So what’s yer poison, Louis?”

“Yeah, a Guinness is fine. Thanks.” He takes the bottle from Niall and takes a long sip.

“So ya know me mate, Harry, then? Ya work at the same place?” Louis chokes a bit on the beer and coughs as Niall suddenly shouts out across the room. “Harry! Ya know me new mate then? This here’s Louis! Think he works wit ya!”

Harry’s eyes zero in on them. He nods at them with his lips pressed together.

Oh god. “Uh, yeah, Harry is actually my boss. I’m his new assistant.”

“What? Yer kiddin’!” Niall exclaims, wide eyed. He calls back out to Harry, “Harry! He says yer his boss! Ain’t that somethin’?”

Harry gives him a stressed smile.

“Wha’s he lookin’ at me like that fer? Maybe he’s afraid ta let loose now that his employee s’here,” Niall explains. He shouts back out to Harry, “Ya afraid to dance on the tables now, mate? Don’t be! I’m sure Lou here won’t mind at all, will ya Lou?”

Louis looks at Liam for help, but Liam looks like he wants nothing more than to sink through the floorboards. “Uh, no, don’t mind,” Louis manages to squeak out.

“See! He says he don’t mind, Harry! So do whatcha will, mate!” Niall shouts.

Louis keeps his distance the rest of the night as does Harry. It’s not that difficult as he seems to have some type of radar that allows him to feel precisely where Harry is at all times. Or maybe he’s just staring. Fuck, who can blame him? Harry looks sinful tonight. Black jeans painted onto his long legs, a dark blue shirt barely buttoned, the tattoos on his chest peeking out. God, Louis wants to taste them again. His eyes continue to travel up to his long hair curling over his broad shoulders and into the incredible green eyes that are staring straight back at him. Fuck. He’s been caught. He quickly turns away and says some nonsense to Liam, but he can’t help but glance back at Harry who returns the look with a smirk. Well, Monday is sure to be awkward as hell.

As soon as the fight is over, Liam graciously decides they should go. “To be honest I don’t think I can stand the tension for another minute,” Liam mumbles as they walk back through the door. “I don’t even want to imagine what it’s like working together all day. This was bad enough.”

“Thank you so much, Liam. I wasn’t aware.”

Liam laughs. “Sorry, man. That shit was intense.”

Monday comes too soon. They don’t talk about it. If possible, Harry spends even less time talking with him in person. It’s so strange to get so many emails from a person who is only a few feet away and behind a door. It’s a relief to have some human interaction at lunch with the interns. They continue to have lunch at the Langham on a regular basis, and Louis wonders why he tortures himself with coming there so often. He tells himself it’s for the tacos and the outdoor seating and the drinks with his friends after work. Ed, the bartender, even buys them a round once in awhile. Sure, that’s why. Liam takes him out in Boystown a few times where they meet up with Max and his friends. He tries not to think about his disinterest in meeting anyone new.

On the last day of June they return from lunch to find Harry standing, frowning, at Louis’ desk. “Ooooh, someone’s in trou-ble,” Max sings as he wiggles his eyebrows. “Have you been naughty, Peaches? Maybe Hot Lips needs to punish you.”

“Oh my god. Shut up.”

As he nears his desk, Louis plasters on a polite smile. “Hi, uh did you need me? I sent you the latest IG posts—“

“Yes, I got them. There’s enough IG posts to post ten times a day. It’s clearly not enough to keep you busy. I think it’s safe to say you could easily handle the Facebook posts as well, so you can add that to your list of responsibilities.” He glances at Louis desk. “Tea, huh?”

Louis colors a bit as he looks at the several boxes and tins of tea stacked in the corner of his desk. “Uh, yeah, I have a cup in the afternoon. I’d leave them in the kitchen, but Max would steal them all.”

“Oh, well, if you don’t mind, could you come by my office this afternoon? I’d like to discuss something with you. Wouldn’t mind having a cup of tea myself.”

“Sure thing. How do you take your tea?”

“Just a bit of milk.”

“Ah, same for me. A man after my own—uh, yeah, I’ll be by around two.”

“Great.”

“Great,” Louis echoes.

*

At precisely two o’clock, Louis knocks on the door to Harry’s office with his elbow, trying not to spill the two cups of tea he holds.

“Come in.”

“I can’t,” Louis calls out. “I’ve got tea.”

The door swings open. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

“No worries,” he tries to come into the office, but Harry is still in his way. “Um, should I come in?”

Harry snaps out of his daze. “Oh, yes. Of course. Come take a seat.”

“So you wanted to discuss something with me?”

“Well, yes. I know I haven’t said it, but your work has been excellent, Louis. You can clearly handle more, so I’m proposing you create the Facebook posts, selecting a photo that best represents the article as we discussed. I’d also like your thoughts on something new I’m pitching,” Harry pauses to look at Louis. “I have an idea about how to cover urban violence mainly using our IG account, but also perhaps as an article or maybe even a column for the paper. I was thinking of calling it, The Day After. The photos would be taken of residents in neighborhoods the day after a shooting.”

“Wow, Harry. That sounds amazing actually. Maybe important is a better word for it.”

“Yes, well, thank you. I’m going to take the first few photos myself, and then have you write the posts. I thought perhaps you could go with me when I take the photos.”

“Oh. Okay. I—I could do that.”

“I want you to be able to hear their stories in order to incorporate them into the posts.”

“Right, right.”

“I also thought it might be a good idea for you to come with me to a few other locations. I thought it might be helpful for you to actually see the photos being taken.”

“Sure. I mean, you’re the boss, right?” Louis inwardly cringes. “I mean—I just meant that I’m your assistant. So if that’s what you need me to do, I’ll obviously do that.”

Harry’s lips press together firmly as he gazes out the window across the Chicago skyline. “Yes. I’m your boss. It’s not the most defined assistant’s position though, I realize. So if you’re uncomfortable coming with me to take the photos, I could have an intern come with me to record it for you.”

“No, no, no. That’s—no. I’d like to come. Even if it’s not required, I’d like to come.” Louis tugs at his shirt a bit nervously. “I’m not—uncomfortable,” he squeaks. Great, he sounds really convincing right now.

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Louis echoes.

He looks down at the full cups of tea. “I’ll just take mine—“

“Oh, the tea. Thanks. I’ll drink mine now.”

Louis flees with his tea before his tongue invites more trouble.

 


	2. July

 

Louis walks into work the next day and sees Harry standing at his desk, his gear strapped across him. Louis’ first thought is how unfairly hot his boss is. He attempts to close down his treacherous brain and focus. He gives Harry a polite smile as he approaches.

Harry frowns back at him.

“Oh. Should I have been here sooner or—“

“No, no. I’m just ready is all.  Shall we?”

“Um. Yeah. Well, you kind of just frowned at me,” Louis says as they walk towards the elevator.  “Are you sure I shouldn’t come in earlier the days we’re doing these stories?”

Harry looks surprised as the elevator doors close. “No, I—sorry. I frowned because you gave me a fake smile. And I—I guess I know what the real one looks like.”

They stare at each other as the elevator descends. The air feels so thick, Louis can’t seem to fill his lungs. In just that one moment of truth, all their carefully crafted avoidance has been destroyed. The elevator dings, and Louis takes a deep breath as the tension breaks with the slide of the doors.

They head west towards Pilsen, looking for the cross streets of the address Harry’s procured from a reporter.  Harry purposely drives the neighborhood to give Louis a feel for it. Louis doesn’t ask, but it seems as though Harry knows the neighborhood. Bold murals wrap around houses and train platforms, mosaics line the building housing the National Museum of Mexican Art, bodegas and panaderias share the neighborhood with cafes and vintage shops.

They head down Levitt Street until they reach a T intersection, where Harry pulls over and parks. A series of Metra tracks stretch out into the distance before them, a few trees only partially covering the view of the tracks. Satellite dishes poke their grey heads out of the red brick residential buildings. Across the street from the address of the shooting is a tire shop painted a vibrant yellow with an equally yellow fence.  A metallic sunburst acts as a stand for stacks of tires, a similar yellow sunburst nearby behind a bright blue bench. A man sits on the bench, and Louis almost suggests going over to talk to him. Harry is eying the building when a young man exits the shop, rolling tires out front in a tee shirt nearly black from grease.

Harry raises his eyebrows at Louis, silently asking the question. Louis nods in response.

“Hello, do you have a minute?”

The man looks up and nods. “You looking for a bike? My dad’s got a couple here. Otherwise, fifteen dollars for flat tires. Guaranteed though. Any problem just bring it back.”

“No, actually I’m the photo editor for the Chicago Tribune, Harry Styles.” Harry extends his hand and the man shakes it.

“Javier Delgado,” the man answers.

“This is Louis Tomlinson, my assistant.” Louis shakes his hand as well. “I was wondering if you’d mind if I took your photo. I’ll include the shop in it as well if that’s okay.”

Javier eyes him. “What’s this about then? What are you taking my picture for?”

“Do you know what happened across the street last night?”

“Oh.” He stops rolling out the tires and looks toward the building across the street. “So you actually writing something about this?”

“Yeah, I am. Well, actually I’m taking some photos, and he--,” Harry nods to Louis. “He’ll be writing a post for it. Probably for the Tribune’s Instagram, but I may try to pitch it as something longer.”

Javier gives them another long look. “Yeah, okay.”

“Great. Thank you,” Harry says. “Just go ahead and keep working and I’ll just capture that, if that’s okay. And then, Louis will ask you a few questions.”

Javier goes back to work, rolling out tires. Harry backs up into the street to take a test shot. Louis watches the intense focus Harry has as he begins to photograph Javier and the shop. His eyebrows are drawn together, his lips slightly pursed before the camera conceals his face from Louis’ view. Now, Louis’ attention is drawn to the long fingers cupping the camera from beneath and wrapped around the side, gripping firmly. He releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding and refocuses on Javier.

When Harry’s done, they return to Javier’s side to talk. “So tell us about your shop,” Louis begins.

“Well, it’s my dad’s shop actually. It’s a tire shop, but he repurposes things he finds. Fixes things other people throw away.” He smiles and waves at a few used bicycles. “Explains why we’re selling random bikes.”

Javier points to the adjacent store front. “The neighborhood’s changed though. That right there used to be a grocery store. Now it’s antiques. Some of the people round here like art now.” He smirks and raises an eyebrow at Harry.

Harry smiles in response. “You think I’m one of those people.”

“I didn’t say nothing.”

Louis turns to Harry and laughs. “You’ve got hipster written across your forehead with your skinny jeans and flowered shirt.”

Javier just smiles. “The camera, too. You think he’s the first one to take a photo of this place?”

“So it seems like you know something about what happened here yesterday,” Louis says.

Javier’s smile fades. “Yeah, we live upstairs here, above the shop. Me and my family. I saw some guys standing across the street last night. I was gonna go over there and talk to them.” His eyes drift towards the building opposite him. “Wanted to ask them about hearing some gunshots out here the other night. But I decided not to. I was hungry, so I left to get dinner. My sister called me a few minutes later. Said there was an ambulance out front.”

A white Mercedes pulls up to the shop. A man gets out to ask about a flat tire, and Harry and Louis back away. “Thanks for talking with us, Javier,” Harry says as they take their leave.

Louis takes a last look before he steps back into Harry’s car. There’s nothing here to indicate someone was killed here yesterday. No yellow tape. Just the everyday life of a neighborhood. Then, out of the corner of his eye he sees the candles. Two of them at the base of the bus stop sign. The only thing to indicate someone’s loss.

They ride in silence back to the Tribune.

[<Instagram post>](https://www.instagram.com/p/BGe79jSuLQi/?taken-by=chicagotribune)   

*

The next day Louis works up a few Facebook posts and checks on the traction for their ‘The Day After’ post of Javier. It’s doing fairly well in comparison to their other posts.

The door to Harry’s office swings open unexpectedly. “Hey, Louis, would you mind stepping in for a moment?”

“Sure,” Louis answers. He closes out of Facebook and walks in through the open office door.

He immediately notices the grin on Harry’s face. Louis returns the smile and says, “Something good happen?”

“You could say that,” Harry replies. “I pitched ‘The Day After’ and got the go ahead to continue it. I’d like to really thank you for the post. I couldn’t have written a post like that for it. They’d like me to put a series of them together for an ongoing photo column in addition to the Instagram posts.”

“Harry! That’s amazing! This was such an incredible idea. After being a part of it, I can see how important it is to humanize the violence. I really think this—it’s a critical step in inspiring change.”

“Um, thank you. I just—I love this city. The neighborhoods, the art, the architecture, the people. I hope that my photography honors that, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it, Harry. I do. I hope my writing can do the same.”

“We’re a lot alike, aren’t we?” Harry’s sideways smile fades. “I mean—I don’t mean—I meant our work.”

“I know. But our work isn’t just typical work. More like a passion, really.”

“A passion. Yes.” Harry clears his throat. The temperature in the room seems to have risen. “Well, I wanted to talk to you about something else as well.”

Louis nods.

“I think it’s important to keep the Instagram varied, so in addition to ‘The Day After’ posts I’d like you to keep the other posts less serious. I noticed you seem to have done that already yesterday with the lion photograph and the kids at the waterpark photo, but I’d like to see that continue.”

“Yeah, that’s what I had in mind, so I’m glad you’re confirming that for me. Actually, I had something else in mind I thought I’d run by you that might help with that. I was thinking we could maybe make our Instagram more interactive. Like we could run, I don’t know, kind of like a contest each week. We can give them a theme and a hashtag to use and have people submit photos for it and then feature one or two there.”

“Yeah, that sounds great, Louis. Definitely go ahead with that. Have you thought of a theme yet?”

“I was thinking of just going with ‘Chicago’ to start it off. I’m sure we’ll get a lot of skyline photos, but maybe we’ll get something unique, too.”

Harry smiles. “Can never have too many skyline photos as far as I’m concerned anyway.”

“Cool. I’ll get started with it if that’s all.”

“Actually, just one more thing. I was wondering if you’d be around with Niall this weekend for the Fourth. I thought I might mix business with pleasure.” His eyes widen as he realizes what he’s said. “Er—I just meant, not pleasure like—inappropriate pleasure—just like—I just meant I’d be there for fun and I might as well photograph it for the Instagram. And if you’re there maybe we could post them immediately. That’s all I meant.”

Louis tries not to laugh. “Yeah, I understand. And yeah, I think Liam and I actually had planned on hanging out with Niall for the Fourth.”

“Great,” Harry says. “Louis?”

“Yeah?”

“I think we make a good team, you and I. Professionally, I mean.”

Louis smiles. “Yeah, I agree. Professionally.” He takes his leave and doesn’t smirk until after he returns to his desk.

*

“Okay, when you said Niall’s party was on a boat, I didn’t expect—this.” Louis gestures to the large yacht they’re about to board.

“Well, honestly I’m surprised you didn’t expect this from Niall,” Liam says with a grin as he steps aboard.

Niall appears in front of them. “Hey! What’s the craic, mates? Glad ya could make it! I got a few friends here.” He waves his arm in the direction of at least fifty people on board. “Bar’s down below, grab some food, whatever, ya know?”

Niall grins at them, and they can’t help but smile back. “Yer boss is here, Lou. Just remember: whatever happens on Nialler’s boat, stays on Nialler’s boat.”

Louis can’t help the small alarm that runs through him. “Wait, what?”

“I think he just means it’s like Vegas. Don’t tell tales about Harry on Monday,” Liam explains.

“Oh, right. Uh—No, I wont.”

“Well, well, well, who have we here, young Niall?” A tall man with a British accent and a slightly garish tropical print shirt slings an arm around Niall’s shoulders.

“Hey, Grimmy, this here’s my friend Liam. And this is his mate Louis from uni.”

“Hiya, I’m Nick. Nice to meet you, Liam and Louis. I’d explain what a big deal I am in the UK, but as you’re Americans you still won’t know who I am. And having to explain sort of ruins the whole effect, I suppose.”

Niall lets out a loud bark of laughter. “Grimmy here’s a big time radio DJ. Was on X Factor in the UK as well. Did I talk ya up enough? Thought you were chattin’ up Harry anyway?”

Louis’ heart starts to pound.

“Oh, I was talking to Harry, yes. Very interesting guy. And gorgeous, too. Don’t want him to think I’m desperate though, now do we?”

Louis’ heart has done a very strange thing. It’s now pounding in his ears. He can barely hear over the sound.

“Well, you’ll be here a few weeks yet, Grimshaw. Got plenty of time to get to know, Hazza. Lord knows he needs to get to know someone. S’been months since I’ve seen him be at all interested in anyone. Thought he might be seein’ someone on the sly, but that don’t seem to be the case.”

“Guess I’ll bring this drink back to Harry now. Nice meeting you two,” Nicks says as he waves his fingers around the cup.

“I’ll come with you,” Louis announces without thought. “I’m Harry’s assistant. We’re supposed to be mixing business with pleasure today.”

Three pairs of eyes narrow in on him. “What? We’re taking photos and posting on Instagram for work,” Louis shrugs.

Nick frowns a bit before leading Louis away towards Harry.

Harry is standing on the deck and spots Louis walking towards him, jerking his head away from the view of the lake. “Louis, you’re here!” Harry’s knee weakening dimples appear with a smile. He waves Louis over, seeming not to even notice Nick walking over with him. Louis thanks a higher power for sunglasses as he hopes they are masking his ogling. Harry’s shorts are—short. Louis tries to take in a slow breath. His legs are—long. And tan. And muscular. And Louis knows what they feel like pressed against him. Christ. He tries to take another slow breath without attracting notice. And why, God, why does Harry never button his shirts? A blue and white print shirt flaps open in the breeze revealing the ink over his chest and arms that Louis has tasted. He takes another slow, deep breath as he tries to forget. He hopes no one notices he’s basically hyperventilating over here. Harry seems not to have noticed as he rambles on pointing out possible shots to capture.

“—do you think?”

Louis has no idea what Harry’s just asked him. Something about photography. He almost laughs at himself. Of course, it’s about photography. He probably said something about a particular shot. Louis quickly glances around. “Maybe the boats?” he answers.

“Yeah, I agree that could be good,” Harry purses his lips as he peers out at the boats on the lake.

“Ahem,” Nick interrupts. “I’ve brought you a drink, Harry. Although the ice has probably all melted by now.”

Harry whips back around, a sheepish look on his face. “Oh my god. Sorry. I got a bit caught up in what I was thinking about for work. Um, I’ll be right back. I’m just going to go grab my camera from the cabin now Louis is here.”

Nick turns to Louis with an eyebrow raised. Louis tries to look as innocent as possible. “So—Louis. The Cubs, huh?”

“What?”

“The Cubs. Baseball. America’s pastime. Your shirt.”

“Oh.” Louis looks down at the Cubs jersey he’s wearing.

“So that’s your team? Aren’t they known for losing?”

Louis’ eyes narrow in preparation for battle. “I guess I can’t expect a Brit to even understand baseball in general, but to be a Cubs fan is to live and breathe the ivy growing over the walls, the indescribable feeling of being transported back in time as you walk into a hundred year old ballpark, the fever pitch of our fandom, it's agony, it's ecstasy, it's community, it's defining role in thousands of people’s stories—“

Harry suddenly appears between them with a smile.  “Louis is a writer. Also, clearly a run of the mill Cubs fan. They’re all like this, believe me. Best not to push it. Okay, let’s do the boats first, Louis. I’ll take some shots we can upload through wifi. Can you believe I can still get wifi out here?” He walks off to the railing, Louis and Nick trailing after him.

Louis spends the afternoon monopolizing Harry’s attention. He suddenly can’t decide whether a long range beach shot or one of the skyline would make a better post. He suddenly can’t think of a thing to write about whatever the last photo is, better that Harry take another one. Harry seems to be oblivious to it, agreeing that maybe that wasn’t the best shot. Nick keeps bringing back drink after drink that Harry takes only a few obligatory sips of and leaves to sit on a table as he takes yet another photo and talks about yet another post.

Louis feels mighty smug at this point. It doesn’t last.

Nick comes back with yet another drink. “Okay, I get it, Harry. You’re either completely uninterested in any of the pleasure part of mixing business with pleasure or you are completely uninterested in getting to know me, which is a shame because I’m extremely interesting and handsome.”

It gets Harry’s attention. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I just get intensely focused on work, and the shots just weren’t working today. I’m so sorry to have been so rude.”

“Well,” Nick slides a smug look at Louis before turning back to Harry. “Maybe now you could spare some time to drink this margarita with me. I’d love to hear all about your work actually.”

“Oh, uh, sure. Louis, you can handle writing up the last post right? Let me know when it’s ready and I’ll add the photo, and you can post the rest.” Louis has officially been dismissed.

Louis’ earlier triumph fades into the fireworks lighting up the night sky, ones that illuminate Nick and Harry shoulder to shoulder at the rail, smiling and laughing at each loud boom.

*

Louis walks into work the next day in a foul mood. He’s spent more hours than he’d like to admit imagining what Harry and Nick were up to after the fireworks last night. Also, it is a travesty to have to work the day after the Fourth of July. He slumps into his chair and lays his head on his desk.

“Louis!”

Louis startles and bangs his head on the side of the cubicle. Harry’s office door is open. His door is never open. Louis cautiously walks to the doorway and peers in at Harry. “Uh, your door is open.”

“What? Oh, I know. Come in. I need to talk to you about something.”

“Your door is never open.”

Harry blushes. “Really? I’m sure it’s open—sometimes.”

Louis purses his lips, but he doesn’t say, yeah before I came to work here.

“I’d like to spend most of today out, if that’s okay. I have an address for ‘The Day After’ and then I’m going to go photograph Rick Bayless. He’s opening a new brewery and taco restaurant.” Harry grins. “Also, it’s an excuse to eat great Mexican food.”

Louis tries to snap out of his mood, and by the time they arrive at their first destination, he’s just concentrating on the work. It’s too important to mess up just because he has some stupid crush on his boss. His boss who has the most beautiful green eyes he’s ever seen. He manages to focus.

They begin driving towards Cruz Blanca, Rick Bayless’ new restaurant, when Louis realizes he knows where they are. “Hey, we’re right by my apartment! Well, Liam’s apartment, I should say.” They pull up and find parking. “What the hell! The apartment is only a few blocks away! I could have been coming here for dinner every night!”

Harry looks around the neighborhood curiously. “I like the neighborhood.”

“Yeah, you would,” Louis mutters.

They meet Rick and get a tour and take a few photos, and then they’re able to sit and enjoy the food. Well, Harry enjoys it anyway. Louis is watching Harry eat in the most obscene way he’s ever seen anyone eat food. Why is his tongue rolling out like that before each bite of taco?

He looks away and manages to gain control of himself, and the lunch passes away pleasantly. They never run out of things to say to each other.  If Louis cares to think about it, Harry is easily the most interesting person he knows. There’s some talk about work, but Harry also asks about his school plans and his apartment hunting. Louis finally remembers today to ask about all the animal photographs Harry seems to take.

“I live in Lincoln Park. A few blocks from the zoo. I go there a lot actually.”

“You live by Lincoln Park Zoo? That’s amazing! I would love to live by a zoo.”

Harry smiles and begins to say something when his phone interrupts them with the ding of a text. Harry flushes a bit as he reads the message.

Louis can feel a lead weight slipping into his stomach. “Who is it?” he tries to ask casually.

“Oh, um, it’s Nick? From last night? Niall’s friend?”

“Oh, yeah, of course, Nick.” He says his name like an expletive.

Harry stares at his phone for a long moment.

“Aren’t you going to text him back?” Louis challenges. He hopes he’s keeping the venom out of his voice, but he’s not sure he’s succeeding.

Harry looks up. He searches Louis’ eyes for something. Louis wonders what he’s looking for and if he’s found it. Harry sighs. “Yeah, I guess I should.” He types something out and sends it and places the phone back on the table. His phone dings almost immediately with a reply. Louis glances down at it before Harry picks it up.

            _Can’t wait to see you tonight! xx_

The pleasant atmosphere of their lunch evaporates. Harry doesn’t pick up the phone, but they both know they’ve read what it says and what it implies. A few moments of silence passes before Louis waves over the waiter for the check even though he’s not done eating. His appetite seems to have vanished.

*

The next few days Harry’s office door remains closed. Louis wonders how his date with Nick went. And if he’s seeing him again. And if he had a good time. And where they went. And what happened. He’s pretty sure any assistant would wonder these things. He’s so glad it’s Friday. He needs a break from this. He blows off Max and the others for lunch in favor of heading to the Langham by himself. He needs a walk and a few minutes to himself. Max makes him promise to actually go out tonight with all the interns though.

He walks the now familiar path through the busy streets until he reaches the outdoor patio. There’s a pleasant breeze blowing through his hair as he sits at the bar. He smiles at Ed as he notices Louis.

“All alone today, huh?”

“Yeah, needed a break.”

“I remember the first time you showed up here on your first day. You seemed pretty miserable then. I thought things might be getting better.”

“Oh. Yeah. They are. Kind of. Well, I like the work anyway.”

“Must be the boss then. Because it seems like you really like your co-workers. Based on how many times you all come here for lunch and drinks anyway.”

Louis looks up guiltily. “My boss is great. Amazing actually.”

Ed raises an eyebrow. “Oh, really? A little too amazing, maybe?”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Louis stares at the bar.

“Sounds complicated.”

“It’s not,” Louis states flatly. “Fine, Ed. If you must know, I have a ridiculous crush on my boss, and he is now seeing someone else. So I should probably just get over myself and go out and have a good time.”

“Be young and free?”

“Exactly. Thanks for the talk, but I’m going to need some tacos immediately.”

“Put the order in as soon as I saw you coming,” Ed says with a smile.

*

Liam has a date, so Louis is kind of glad he’s made other plans. Better than sitting home alone while his best friend is on a date. Probably Harry is on a date, too. He definitely shouldn’t stay home tonight.

He puts on his tightest pair of black jeans. He wonders if he can even call them jeans when they have this much spandex in them. He knows what he looks like in them and that’s all that matters. He looks briefly through his closet for a shirt when he pauses at one and has to laugh. He takes the white tee out and slides it on. Then, he heads to the bathroom. His hair is getting quite long. He should probably cut it. He styles it up and off his face as best he can. His phone starts vibrating with texts from Max. They’re at a bar in Boystown. He takes one last look at his reflection, smiling ruefully at the mirrored image of the words “Not Heartbroken” scrawled across the top of one side of his shirt.

Louis arrives at a huge, sprawling bar with multiple rooms and levels. He’s already catching a few eyes. The jeans are definitely working in his favor. He gets another text from Max that says they’re upstairs, so he heads towards a large metal staircase. At the top of the stairs he begins scanning the room and sees a good looking dark haired man whom he knows works in the business office at the Tribune. He glances around and realizes he recognizes quite a few of these faces. What is going on? Did Max invite the entire newspaper staff? He suddenly has a bad feeling about this.

Max seems to appear out of thin air before him. “So what do you think? This place is amazing, isn’t it? Let’s get you a drink.”

Max starts leading him away. “Max, did you invite the whole office?”

Max frowns. “How very dare you.”

“What?”

Max sniffs. “Well, I guess you don’t read all my emails then. I invited people via email two days ago.”

“Well, forgive me please for not wanting to know every single thought that crosses your mind. You usually send me cat videos, Max.”

“Whatever. You need a drink. A serious one. Also, did you see Hot Luke from the business department is here?”

“Yes, I actually did see him on my way up here.”

Max starts waggling his eyebrows. “You know who else is here?”

God no.

“Hot Lips is here! You’re welcome.” Max grins.

They’re at the bar now, and Max orders him some slushy concoction. He starts sipping it, but decides he definitely needs a shot first in order to survive this night. He’s afraid to even start scanning the room for fear of being captured by a green-eyed gaze. So instead, he stays at the bar and takes a shot while Max chatters in his ear.

He knows better than to turn around, but what is he supposed to do? Hide all night? He turns and with radar precision finds Harry across the room. He’s talking to a staff photographer. Louis can tell he’s talking about work just from the crease between his eyebrows. Oh god. Should he be able to tell things like that? He officially lets his gaze linger too long, although it felt like only a few seconds, because suddenly Harry is staring back. He sees Harry’s eyes travel the length of his body, and the temperature in the room is rising suddenly. He quickly turns to Max and says, “I need another shot and then let’s dance!”

Max happily takes another shot with him and then leads him to Perrie and Sophia out on the dance floor. Eleanor is nearby dancing with some people from the business office including Hot Luke. Louis can feel the alcohol start to pump through his veins. It’s becoming easier to forget who else is in the room as they dance. Max comes back with another round of slushy drinks, and Louis shares his with Eleanor as he laughs at her lewd jokes and tells her a few of his own. Max breaks the spell.

“Hot Lips is keeping a close eye on you, Peaches!” he shouts over the din of the music and crowd. Louis can’t stop himself from immediately meeting Harry’s eyes across the room. He flushes and whips back around. Fuck. He’s supposed to be out here being young and free, and there’s his crush who is dating someone else here to ruin it. Louis is determined to ignore him.

Luke is heading to the bar, so Louis stumbles after him. Luke catches his arm and steadies him. “Thanks,” Louis smiles, looking up at him through his long eyelashes. Luke looks somewhat dazed at the attention. With a smirk Louis struts ahead of him, swinging his hips more than necessary. At the bar Luke stands just a little too close, half looming over him. They get drinks and head back out to the dance floor. Luke stops him before they make it back to their friends. He bends down to Louis’ ear and says, “I love this song!”  Louis stops to listen as Ariana Grande’s voice swells through the sound system.

            _I’m so into you, I can barely breathe_

He lets the synths and bass wash over him.

            _And all I wanna do is to fall in deep_

Luke has closed the space between them.

            _But close ain’t close enough ‘til we cross the line_

He rests one of his hands on Louis’ hip, his other hand still holding his drink, as he moves to the beat.

            _So name a game to play, and I’ll roll the dice_

Louis feels the beat pounding through him as he closes his eyes and moves with the song.

            _Oh, baby, look what you started_

He turns his back to Luke, but he’s still dancing close enough for Luke’s hand to return to his hip.

            _The temperature’s rising in here_

His eyes are still closed.

            _Is this gonna happen?_

He tries to live in the moment and not let his mind interfere.

            _Been waiting and waiting for you to make a move_

With his eyes closed, he doesn’t see anyone approaching.

            _Before I make a move_

A large hand clasps his wrist and tugs him forward a step.

            _So, baby, come light me up_

Louis’ eyes fly open.

            _And maybe I’ll let you on it_

He looks into Harry’s green eyes staring daggers at him, his wrist still in Harry’s grasp.

            _A little bit dangerous_

“What are you—“ Louis begins as Harry starts leading him across the dance floor towards the outdoor terrace.

            _But, baby, that’s how I want it_

When they reach the terrace, Louis pries Harry’s hand off his wrist. “What the hell are you doing? What the fuck is your problem?”

“I have no idea—you.”

“You have no right to do this, Harry. You just drug me off the dance floor in front of our coworker!”

Harry runs a hand through his hair in agitation. “I know, okay? I know. It’s just—“

“It’s just, what?”

“I’m jealous, okay? I’m fucking jealous as hell that he’s dancing with you and—and he had his hand on you and I—just—I don’t know.”

“You know what? Fuck you, Harry. You’re seeing someone else!”

“I’m not seeing someone else! I mean, not exactly. He’s friends with Niall, and Niall’s been hounding me about getting to know him. And so we’re kind of hanging out and—“

“Oh, so you didn’t just sleep him with him and never ask him out again?”

Harry flushes. He knows Louis isn’t talking about Nick. “I gave you my number! I clearly intended to see you again, if you’d wanted. I was pretty obvious about it for fuck’s sake. I mean, I got that stupid expensive as hell hotel room just so I could talk to you longer. I didn’t know you at the time, but I knew I wanted to get to know you. Fuck, I think about this way too much.”

            _A little less conversation and a little more touch my body_

Louis stares at him for a moment before he drops the drink he didn’t realize he was still holding and grabs the front of Harry’s shirt, pulling him into a kiss.

            _‘Cause I’m so into you, into you, into you_

Their lips crash together as Louis threads his fingers through Harry’s curls, and Harry’s hand finds its way to the small of his back. Their chests pressed together.

            _A little bit scandalous, but, baby, don’t let them see it_

“Ahem,” someone says loudly next to them. They break apart in shock.

“Hiiiiiii,” Max says with a wicked grin. “Don’t worry. It’s just me. You’d think you’d both be more careful if you don’t want everyone to know. Which I’m guessing you don’t based on the looks on your faces. Honestly, you should see yourselves right now.” He lets out a trill of laughter. “Anyway, you’re both lucky everyone is drunk. Cheers!” Max raises a glass in farewell as he saunters off.

They eye each other warily, still panting a bit. Louis breaks the silence. “If you weren’t my boss, would we be together?”

Harry stares at him for a long moment. “But I am your boss, Louis.”

*

Louis is sure Monday will bring the kind of awkwardness only drunkenly kissing your boss can bring. He’s wrong.  He doesn’t lay eyes on Harry the entire day. The only reason he presumes he is even in his office is because he continues to receive emails from him. Extremely professional emails. Even though it’s saving him embarrassment, the avoidance just ends up pissing him off instead. He passive aggressively posts eight Instagram posts to show how bored he is. He knows Harry will notice.

Tuesday is the same, and Wednesday is starting to look a lot like Monday and Tuesday. Doesn’t he ever have to use the bathroom? Does he hold it until Louis goes to lunch? Adult diapers? Piss in a jar?

He decides to take a long lunch in protest. They have a new addition to their lunch group today. He smiles as Eleanor rushes over to join them in the lobby. “Sorry, sorry! We’re setting up interviews for the social media director position. It’s taking forever to find someone we like to even interview.”

Louis looks up in surprise. “Oh, so I’d probably report to that person when they get hired then?”

“Yes, you would,” Eleanor smiles. “I know you and Harry have made an amazing team, but we’ll find you someone good to work with. I know they’d like to keep some of your ideas going.”

Max slings an arm around Louis’ shoulders as they walk down Michigan Avenue. “Aw, man! Breaking up The Dream Team!”

Louis scowls at him.

“Who knows if we’ll even find someone soon,” Eleanor replies.

They seat themselves at an outdoor table. Eleanor leans forward across the table from Louis. “So—what’s going on with you and—“ Louis’ heart stops. “—Luke from the business office?” Eleanor winks.

Max lets out a loud cackle that he swallows. “Ahem, excuse me. Got a bit of a cough.” He pounds his chest with exaggeration.

Eleanor gives Max a strange look, so Louis quickly answers. “Uh, nothing. I don’t think. We just talked and danced a little.”

“Well, if you’re sure nothing’s going on between you two, I was kind of wondering if you’d be willing to be set up on a blind date.” Eleanor looks at him hopefully.

Max let’s out another noise. “Sorry, must be coming down with something.”

Louis ignores him. “Oh, uh. I don’t know. I mean, I’m single, so maybe.”

“Well, I have a really good friend of mine who’s also single, and you’re just his type. He’s super sweet—“

“Oh god, kiss of death,” Max groans. “Don’t do it Louis. Sounds like he has a ‘nice personality.’”

Eleanor rolls her eyes. “Well, if you must know, Max, he’s extremely handsome. He’s a model actually. He’s still based in Chicago, but he travels to New York a lot for work. Honestly, you’ve probably seen him before. His name is Miles Mc—“

“MILES MCMILLAN! YOU’RE SETTING LOUIS UP WITH MILES MCMILLAN! OH MY FUCKING GOD!” Max jumps up from his chair. “Why does no one set me up with Miles McMillan?” His eyes grow wide, suddenly. “Oh my god, oh my god. Holy shit!” He shoves Louis’ shoulder as he sits back down.

“Jesus, Max,” Louis says as he rubs his shoulder. “Uh, I take it his name is Miles McMillan?”

Eleanor looks at Max oddly. “Yes, he’s actually one of my friends from high school. He’s a really lovely person—“

Max is still muttering as he scrolls through his phone. “God, Eleanor, stop talking about lovely he is. Here! Here, look at these. LOOK AT THESE!” He shoves his phone in Louis’ face. Louis takes the phone and looks at the man on the screen. It’s an ad for some fancy clothing brand. The man has long, wavy brown hair. He’s beautiful with incredible cheekbones and amazing eyes and plush lips and he bears a striking resemblance to—

“And there it is!” Max exclaims. “I was just waiting for the moment you got it!” Max bursts into hysterical laughter. Max lays his head on the table and bangs his fist on it.

Louis isn’t sure whether to laugh or cry, honestly. He’s being set up with a Harry look alike. Obviously, Max had no trouble deciding whether to laugh or cry.

Eleanor is looking at Max like he has two heads. “You are so strange, my god.”

“He really is, isn’t he?” Louis answers. “Uh, you know I don’t know how much we’d have in common, but I’d be willing to meet him.”

“Really?” Eleanor smiles hopefully.

“Really?!” Max exclaims as he lifts his head off the table.

“Uh, yeah, really. I mean, I’m single. So yeah, I should be out there meeting people, right?”

Max narrows his eyes at him. “Right.”

“Right,” Louis echoes back.

*

Louis marches into work Thursday ready to have it out with Harry. This just can’t continue. It’s unprofessional and ridiculous and boring as hell and to be perfectly honest, Louis hates to be ignored. He walks straight to Harry’s office door and raises his hand to knock when the door swings open.

“Oh, hi. You ready to go then?”

“What?”

“I have an address.”

Louis looks at him blankly.

“You know, for “The Day After?” Harry says.

“Oh. Okay.” He follows him to the elevator.

The doors to the elevator close, and the hairs on the back of Louis’ neck stand on end. Seriously, he did not think the tension between them could get any worse. He is wrong. Why is this elevator taking so long? Does it always take this long?

The doors finally open, and he hears Harry take in a breath as though he’s been holding it. Louis is glad he isn’t the only one feeling nervous.

As soon as they reach the address they go into their work mode. They just click as a team. They can speak in their own shorthand and can sense what the other one is wanting from a shot or a story with just a look. Professionally, it goes well. Emotionally, not so much. These kinds of stories they’re telling are so important, but can be especially heartbreaking. Today is one of the most heartbreaking days.

They get back in the car, and Harry hits his hand on the steering wheel. “Fuck!”

Louis closes his eyes and rubs a hand across his face.

Harry starts the car and begins driving. “We’re not going back to the office if that’s okay,” Harry says quietly.

“Um, okay. Do you want me to go home then? Or—“

“No,” Harry answers, his jaw clenches.

“Okay.” Louis decides not to ask where they’re going. He doesn’t even know if where they’re going is work related or not, but he decides he doesn’t care. He really doesn’t want to go home by himself right now, and he definitely isn’t ready to go back to the office.

They head north. Traffic isn’t too terrible on the expressway at this time of day. As they take the Lincoln Park exit, Louis has a moment of panic that Harry is taking him to his apartment, but Harry winds around into the parking lot for the zoo. He parks the car and breaks the silence.

Harry leans his head back against the headrest and turns to look at Louis. “I hope this is okay.”

“Yeah,” Louis clears his throat as he meets Harry’s gaze. “It’s fine.”

They walk through the gates, and Harry strides straight for the first exhibit. Louis follows after him, noting they’re headed for the Big Cats. Harry snaps a few photos as Louis makes a few quick notes as they walk through.

As they exit the exhibit Harry slumps onto the bench just outside the doors. He puts his head in his hands, his elbows touching his knees. Louis sits next to him. “I’m really sorry,” Harry mumbles.

“Don’t be,” Louis answers.

“No, I should be used to this stuff. But I just—I just can’t,” Harry sits up and lifts his eyes to meet Louis’. “It’s one of the main reasons I’m an editor now. It wasn’t just the pay raise and the promotion. I couldn’t handle being out in the field all the time anymore. Sorry, I’m sure you don’t care to hear all this.”

“’Course I do,” he says simply.

He slips his hand over Harry’s, an offer of comfort. Harry accepts it gratefully. They sit for a while like that, just watching the parade of couples and parents and children and strollers and a school field trip with harried teachers corralling their charges.

Harry stands up. “I could use a drink. What about you?”

“Uh, sure,” Louis says as he stands. “What did you have in mind?”

Harry smiles. “You’ll see.”

They walk through the zoo passing the exhibits and head for the nature boardwalk just outside the zoo grounds. Overlooking the pond is an amazing Prairie School style building housing a café. Harry asks for an outdoor patio table as Louis admires the view. “Amazing, isn’t it? To see the skyline and a prairie at the same time?”

Louis laughs. “Yeah, it really is.”

They order beers and then drink another round with lunch. The tension that started the day has gradually waned. Their old camaraderie finds its way back to them. The conversation streams, an equal ebb and flow between them.

Harry pays, under protest from Louis. It’s the first sour note of their lunch. Harry insists because Louis didn’t have much choice about coming here in the first place. Louis gives in even though having him pay feels too much like something a date would do. He tells himself that’s not possible, so it’s just business. But when they find themselves lying back in the grass, shielding their eyes from the sun with their arms flung over themselves, and so close their shoulders touch, it’s hard to remember it’s just business.  Louis can hear Harry finally moving around to take photos, but he doesn’t even crack an eyelid.

Harry stills for a moment. Louis opens his eyes to find Harry staring at him. “So do you want to visit the rest of the zoo?”

“Sure,” Louis says as he stretches and stands. He notices Harry watches him stretch out of the corner of his eye. They tour the zoo, even taking a ride on the carrousel. Harry is a great tour guide. He has spent a lot of time here, after all. Louis buys gifts for all his siblings in the gift shop, puzzles and stuffed animals and a few tee shirts. And when they exit the shop, Louis realizes how late in the day it is. His stomach growls, reminding him how long ago lunch was.

Harry frowns. “You’re hungry,” he says.

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“Why didn’t you say?”

“I honestly wasn’t thinking about it, Harry.” He smiles. “Having too much fun, I guess.”

“It will take too long to get back on the 'L.' I’ll drive you home.”

“No, that’s okay. It’s way out of your way. You’d be in the car forever with traffic at this time. If you can just drop me off at a station that’d be great.”

“Well, it’s my fault you ended up this far from home.”

“It’s fine, Harry. Really.”

“Or you could—“ Harry pauses. “I could make you something. At my house, I mean. It’s very close by.  I don’t know if that’s too uncomfortable for you, but I’m truthfully quite a good cook. I could make you just about anything. Do you like Italian? Mexican? I think I have ingredients for either. Fajitas, maybe? Did you know I used to be a b—“

Louis interrupts. “Harry!”

“Yes?”

“It’s fine. Sure. I’d love to have someone cook me something for once. Liam and I aren’t too great at it. You should see the pancakes I made the other day. They did not look appetizing. We eat a lot of frozen shit to be honest.”

“Oh, Louis. Frozen shit? That sounds terrible.”

“Well, it’s organic frozen shit if that helps. Basically all you can get in his neighborhood. Organic stuff and craft beer.”

In a few short minutes Harry pulls into a parking spot.

“Oh my fucking god, Harry! You live here?”

Harry blushes a little. “Uh, yes?”

“It’s the kind of place where you walk by and think, I wonder who lives here.” Louis looks in awe at the tall graystone house before him.

“Well, now you know,” Harry jokes. “Honestly, I don’t think I could ever afford a place like this on my own. I rent it from my step-father.”

“Ah. So you know exactly how it feels to have a step-father who can give you advantages. It’s a bit strange, isn’t it?” Louis says as they walk inside.

“Yeah, I’m used to it now really. He’s been my step-father for a long time. I know you think we had to hire you because of yours, but Louis, there’s no way we could have landed someone better than you for your job. We don’t even try usually. We just hire cheap interns who aren’t done with school for these kinds of jobs. So I got incredibly lucky to have you. Er, I mean for this. For the job.” Harry looks at him with stricken eyes.

Louis laughs. “Harry, I knew what you meant.”

“Right. So Mexican or Italian?” he asks as they enter the kitchen.

“How about the fajitas you mentioned?

“Great,” Harry says as he starts pulling out vegetables and chicken out of the refrigerator. “Can you cut some of these peppers?”

“Uh, sure,” Louis says doubtfully.

“Louis, it’s just cutting. Here, cut them like this.” Harry chops part of the pepper into strips. Louis does a decent job of it, if he does says so himself. Takes him about three times as long as Harry to chop a pepper, but it’s his first time, he figures. As Louis chops, Harry puts a flat iron pan on the stove and turns it on. Then, he starts making a dough.

“What are you making?”

“Tortillas.”

“You’re making homemade tortillas? Who even are you?”

“They really aren’t that hard to make. And the more you make them, the faster you get at it.”

By the time Louis is done chopping vegetables, Harry already has a pile of tortillas that he carefully wraps up to keep warm. As he cooks the fajitas, Louis sits on the counter.  His mouth nearly waters from the smell wafting from the pan. They chat pleasantly about their families as they eat. Louis tells some of his best sibling stories on purpose to make him laugh. He tries not to think about his motivation behind it.

“God, that was amazing, Harry,” Louis says with a sigh as he eats the last bite off his plate.

“Oh, it was nothing really,” Harry replies, but a wash of pink creeps into his cheeks. Louis can tell he’s a bit proud of how good it is though.

As Louis starts helping him clear away the dishes back into the kitchen, Harry’s cell begins vibrating on the kitchen counter where it’s being charged. Harry glances down at it. “It’s Niall,” he says.

“Go ahead and answer it,” Louis insists. “I’ll load your dishwasher and finish cleaning up. The least I could do.”

“Okay,” Harry says as he answers the phone. “Hey, Niall, what’s up?” Harry walks out of the kitchen and into the living room to talk. Louis can’t help but eavesdrop as he loads the dishes. He’s talking too loudly. It’s not his fault he overhears, really.

“Niall—Oh, uh yeah Nick’s great—“ Louis tenses as he hears the name.

“I’m not sure—I did have fun but—Can I talk to you about this later?—“

So he had fun on his date with Nick. Louis clenches his jaw. This isn’t his business. He doesn’t even care.

“Yes, I’m busy—No, I have a guest—my assistant—Well that’s what he technically is, Niall—“

Yes, he is. This is a good reminder that’s all he is to Harry. His heart constricts in his chest. He doesn’t let himself think about that. He slams a glass into the dishwasher.

“Jesus, no, I made him dinner—No it wasn’t a d—Niall—I don’t need to explain myself to you—“

Nope, he doesn’t need it explained to him either. It isn’t a date. The message has been received, loud and clear. He can feel the tang of bitterness rise in his throat.

“Fine, I’m sorry too—I mean, if Nick wants to hang out again he can text me—“  

The fragile bubble that surrounded them this afternoon bursts. Louis tries to ignore the prick of tears behind his eyes. Fuck, what is wrong with him that he’s acting this way?

“Fine, I’ll text him—Bye.”

All Louis can think about is running away from this beautiful home that suffocated him in false hopes. He’s got to get out of here and save whatever dignity he has left.

When Harry walks back into the kitchen, the smile on his face fades as he sees Louis standing by the door, bags from the zoo in hand, clearly about to leave. “Oh, are you leaving? I was going to see if you wanted dessert or—“

“No thanks, I don’t need dessert. Thanks though. Dinner was really delicious. Really good. Thank you so much.” Fuck, how many times did he just say thanks?

“Yeah, well, I can drive you back if you want to go.”

“No, I’ll just look up the nearest station. So I’ll be fine.”

“Louis, I can take you back.”

“Harry, I can walk a few blocks to a station. But thanks. For everything today. It was—nice.”

Harry leans back against the counter and studies him for a long moment before he sighs and says, “Yeah, it was really—nice.”

Louis plasters a fake smile on his face that he already knows Harry will see through and flees out into darkening night.

*

He walks into the apartment and throws himself face down across the couch.

“Rough day?” Liam says from the chair.  He’s eating a frozen meal. Harry would be horrified.

“Yes,” Louis mumbles into the cushion.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Want some of my food?”

“No. Already had fajitas.”

“Okay. Where’d you have fajitas?”

“Harry’s house.”

“Oh. Shit. Um, okay. Did—uh—did something happen?”

“Yes—no. Yes, I am an idiot that reads more into situations than is healthy. No, nothing happened between me and Harry if that’s what you’re asking.”

Liam stays silent for a moment. “Do you want me to make you a drink?”

Louis sits up on the couch and makes his best puppy dog face at Liam. “Please?”

Liam smiles in sympathy. “Sure, Lou.” Liam gets up from his chair, but he doesn’t go straight into the kitchen. Instead, he sits down next to Louis and opens his arms wide.

“Come on.”

Louis rolls his eyes, but he collapses into Liam’s arms and let’s himself be hugged. He even admits to himself how comforting it is. Liam lets go with one last squeeze and mixes him a drink.

Louis tosses and turns in his sleep that night. While he goes through the motions of his morning routine, he vows to himself that he will put a stop to this. He and Harry are not going to happen. In fact, they absolutely should not happen, even if they both wanted something to happen between them. Harry is seeing someone else, however casually, so whatever feelings he may have for Louis must not be too strong. He dismisses his one jealous outburst as alcohol related, and he promises himself that he won’t let whatever it is he feels for Harry keep interfering with his personal life. He obviously can’t avoid him at work, but he needs to stop thinking about him outside of work. He has Liam, he has some great new friends, and he even has a romantic prospect. Miles. Fuck, he almost forgot about meeting him.

Louis walks into work early and finds Eleanor.

“Hey.”

“Hi, Louis! What’s up?”

“So, uh, is your friend coming back to town anytime soon?”

“Oh!” Eleanor’s face lights up. “Yes, actually! I was going to talk to you about it. He’ll be home in a few weeks. Oh my god, I can’t wait for you guys to meet! I just know you’re going to hit it off. Did I tell you I sent him some of your Facebook photos?”

“Eleanor!”

“What? I only sent good ones! And he seemed very, very interested in meeting you after I showed him the photos,” she grins.

Louis rolls his eyes, but a hint of a smile plays over his face.

*

Louis makes a serious effort at professionalism with Harry. He tries his best not to let his gaze linger as Harry takes photos or explains a shot. He ignores any lingering glances that are aimed his way. They still have a certain connection through their work that he allows to continue, but he makes a concerted effort to keep all other talk as casual as possible. He simply doesn’t allow personal topics to arise in their daily conversations in the car or in the office. He keeps it all about their work. Even when he and Liam run into him when meeting up with Niall, he only speaks to him briefly and only about work. He never looks Harry’s way purposely, and he tries not to admit to himself that he can still feel the invisible pull that tries to draw him in. Harry seems to take Louis’ cue, and he mirrors back Louis’ strict professionalism. If there’s a strain between them that wasn’t there before, they both choose to ignore it.

Louis only has one lapse in the last weeks of July. Nick stops by to take Harry to lunch, and Louis is excruciatingly polite. After they walk out, he draws a crude stick figure of a tall man with a giant quiff of hair and then draws a giant dick over his face until the tip of the pencil breaks from pressing so hard. So he decides to break every pen and pencil at his desk in half. It doesn’t really make him feel that much better. He sweeps them into the garbage and heads out to lunch with his friends.

As soon as they sit down, Eleanor turns to him, excitement written across her face. “Miles will be home next week! Just in time for Lollapalooza! I thought that would be the perfect time for you to meet him! Totally casual, and it will be so much fun! He wants to see The 1975, so I thought we could go to dinner before and then to the show.” She claps her hands together. “So what do you think?”

Louis smiles. “Sounds great!” Max meets his eyes across the table. Louis stares at him for a moment as Max’s face turns sympathetic. “Really great.”

 


	3. August

 

“Louis! I cannot believe you didn’t bring something to change into! You cannot wear this to meet Miles!” Max stands at his desk, his arms crossed over his chest.

Louis looks down at his clothes. This blue button up brings out the blue in his eyes, doesn’t it? “Why not? He knows I’m coming from work.”

“Louis!”

“Max!”

“No.”

“Well, I don’t know what you want me to do about it, Max. I don’t have time to go home and change after work. I guess I could skip lunch and go home.”

“WAIT! I have an even better idea!” Max rubs his hands together, eyes sparkling.

“You’re scaring me.”

“We’re going shopping!”

As soon as they walk into the shop, Louis knows he’s going to be spending a lot of money. “How much does this stuff cost, Max?”

“Look, you’re going to have to spend some to get some.”

“Get some what?”

“Shut it. We don’t have a lot of time.” Max starts plucking things off racks and grabbing shorts off tables.

Louis eyes the pair he’s just thrown at him. “These look like jorts.”

“Mmhmm.”

“These jorts say they cost seventy-five dollars!”

“I know. They’re on sale. Lucky you.”

After fifteen minutes of perusing the store, Max ushers Louis into a fitting room. “Try on the jorts first! They’re perfect for Lolla.”

Louis comes out in the denim cut off shorts. They have a vertical washed out pattern that does make them a bit interesting. They’re also very fitted in the bum area.

“Do a twirl,” Max insists. Louis rolls his eyes, but he dutifully spins once, slowly. “Christ, your ass looks hot in those.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“Please. Like you didn’t know. And my god, your calves are really something. And your ankles—okay, well, definitely those. Go try it on with the white tee shirt.”

“Why would I spend so much on a plain white tee shirt?”

“Louis.”

“Max.”

“Stop being so damn stubborn and go try it on. I promise you that tee is anything but plain.”

He picks up the tee and notices it’s not quite as plain as he first thought. For one thing it’s incredibly soft, which is nice. It has rings at the neck and sleeves, so even though it’s completely white, it saves it from being boring. He slings it over his head and looks at himself in the mirror. Oh. So that’s what Max meant. The neckline slouches low enough that you can see his collarbones and parts of the words inked across his chest.

When he walks out, Max pretends to have a heart attack. “Now that, my friend, is a look.”

He can’t really wear this outfit with his dress shoes, so he buys some navy Vans with brown soles. At least he knows he’ll wear them again.

Louis stuffs the bag of new clothes under his desk and tries to work. He’s so distracted though. If he’s being honest, he’s pretty nervous about meeting Miles. Normally, he would have put a lot more thought into what he was going to wear to meet someone new, but it’s almost as if he’s been trying to pretend it’s not happening. Best not to think on that, he tells himself. He’ll just be thankful for Max and his fashion sense.

At five o’clock, Max appears at his desk. “So why haven’t you changed yet?” he asks impatiently.

“We’re not even leaving until five-thirty,” Louis replies.

“Louis.”

“Max.”

Max reaches under his desk and pulls the bag out. He reaches in and grabs the jorts and flings them at Louis’ chest. “Go put these on.  Now.”

“Bossy,” Louis mutters as he walks to the bathroom with the shorts. He changes and walks back out to his desk.

“God, those look as good as they did at lunch,” Max says as Louis reaches his desk.

“Thanks, where’s the shirt?”

Max hands him the white tee and sits on Louis’ desk. Louis unbuttons his shirt and flings it at Max. He laughs as it hits him in the face, but his laughter dies as Harry opens his office door to see Louis standing shirtless at his desk.

“Oops,” Harry says as he stares at Louis’ chest.

“Hi,” Louis squeaks. “I’m just…I…” Before he says anything else, he figures he better put the damn shirt on, so he quickly stretches his arms up to slide it over his head. He jams his arms through the sleeves as fast as he can, but Harry’s eyes remain on his bare skin for as long as possible. “I’m just changing my shirt. I’m going to Lollapalooza with…people, and—“

“He has a date.”

Harry and Louis both whip their heads around to look at Max’s satisfied face. Harry must look questioningly at Max because Max says, “Oh, not with me, so don’t look at me like that. He’s going on a date with Miles McMillan. You know, the model and artist? The really hot one? Did some amazing nudes. He’s friends with Eleanor.”

“He’s an artist?” Louis asks.

“Louis, did you not Google him? What is wrong with you? And if you didn’t, why are you asking about his art when I just said he has nudes online?”

“I know who Miles McMillan is,” Harry says.

Max and Louis whip their heads back around to look at Harry.

“What? He’s very famous. I’m a photographer for fuck’s sake.”

“Right,” Louis says.

“Of course,” Max replies.

Louis takes his new shoes out of the bag and puts them on. Max hands him his aviator sunglasses that he perches on top of his self-styled fringe. “Uh, so how do I look?” He feels a bit awkward that Harry is still standing in front of him.

Harry clears his throat.

“Louis!” Eleanor exclaims as she appears at his desk. “You look ah-mazing!”

“You look hot as fuck,” Max declares.

Eleanor and Max look at Harry. Harry looks into Louis’ eyes. “You look beautiful.”

There’s a moment of uncomfortable silence as Louis looks back at him, mesmerized.

“So we should probably go!” Eleanor says brightly, breaking the tension.

Max hops down off the desk. “Good luck! Do everything I would do!”

Louis rolls his eyes at Max before he walks away with Eleanor. “Make sure he gets a good look at you from behind! Show off your best assets!” Max shouts after them.

Max looks curiously at Harry who is apparently helpless to look away from Louis as he walks out.

“Not so fun being on this side of it, huh?”

“What?” Harry asks, startled.

“It’s always you walking away, isn’t it? Well, this time he’s walking away from you.”

Harry’s face hardens. “I know you think you know something, Max. Obviously, you saw—us.  But you don’t know everything, okay? I had to walk away. This is my career. One that I love. I can’t jeopardize it for—“ Harry rakes a hand through his hair.

“Then, why’d you kiss him?”

“Because I was being stupid. And jealous—“

“What right do you have to be jealous when you’re seeing someone else?”

“I’m not even seeing someone else!” Harry exclaims. “Nick was just—I wasn’t even really—and he’s back in the UK now anyway.”

“Well, that clears that up.”

Harry groans and runs his hand across his face. “I have to go to Lollapalooza tonight.”

Max’s eyes widen. “No!” he says.

“Yes,” Harry replies as Max bursts into hysterical laughter.

*

The convergence of people in Grant Park for Lollapalooza is like no other. At dinner Miles described it as a cultural experience, not just a music festival. Louis has to agree. He’s been to music festivals before, but this seems to be something else entirely.

Miles touches his arm. “Amazing, isn’t it? Can you feel the energy?”

Louis smiles at him and stops to let the beat of the music coming from a far off stage run through him. “Come on, I want to work our way close to the stage for The 1975.” Miles grabs his hand, and they lead Eleanor and their friends to one side of the stage.

Night begins to fall. The sun receding slowly over the tops of the skyscrapers. Blue and purple blurs of light hit the stage as the strains of The 1975 channeling David Bowie blare from the speakers. Louis watches Miles sing along and laugh in delight as Matty sings about narcissism and fame. He wonders if there is a chance something can come of this. Miles seems nice. He seems interesting. He’s definitely amazingly handsome. Why does he feel no spark? Maybe it’s too soon to tell, he reassures himself. Miles notices Louis watching him and grins, his eyes sparkling from the glow of the stage. Louis smiles back. It almost feels like a real one. He turns his attention back to the music. He lets it carry him away as he dances with his friend and a new handsome boy.

For the first time in weeks, he feels a sense of freedom and lightness. It doesn’t last long.

He knows they’re probably nearing the end of their set. As the rhythmic clapping of _Chocolate_ fades away, Matty steps back up to the mic. “I got a mate here tonight! He’s very handsome. Would you like to meet him?” The crowd cheers.

“Harry! Do you hear that? They want to meet you! Come out here!” Matty is motioning to someone just off stage. “Don’t make these lovely people wait, Styles. I’ll come get you myself if I have to!”

Louis’ heart skips a beat. This isn’t happening. He’s heard wrong or he’s hallucinating or—his brain stops functioning as Matty drags Harry, stumbling across the stage, back up to the mic. “This here’s my mate from Chicago. Brilliant photographer, he is. And gorgeous, too, didn’t I tell you?” Harry looks mortified as Matty squeezes his cheeks with his hand. Matty releases him, and he smiles and ducks his head as he waves to the crowd and begs Matty to let him back off stage. “Okay, you can go, but this next one’s for you, Harry! He’s been mopin’ ‘round about someone since I got here.” Harry looks alarmed for a brief moment, and his eyes dart to Louis’ in the crowd as though he knew exactly where to look.  “Don’t worry, I’ll take your mind off that bloke tonight.” The crowd catcalls them as Harry looks away and flees the stage. Matty laughs. “Minds in in the gutter, Chicago.  I meant we’ll go get pissed tonight. Unless you’re up for more, Styles! Ehhh, I think he still hears the sound of his bloke’s heart.” The crowd erupts as the sound of _The Sound_ begins pulsing through the speakers.

            _Well, I know when you’re around ‘cause I know the sound/ I know the sound of your heart_

Louis lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He must look dazed because Miles puts an arm around his shoulder and bends down to ask him if he’s okay. He smiles weakly and nods. He tries. He really tries to recapture some of his moment of freedom, but it has fled and left him with a lead weight in the pit of his stomach.

*

Louis drags himself into work the next morning. He’s barely slept. Harry’s office door is closed, but it appears he isn’t actually in there. Not much light coming from beneath the door. He lets himself have a brief moment of thinking how ludicrous it is that he has to look for light under his boss’ door to check if he’s here or not. He’s never been here before Harry. Maybe he stayed out all night drinking with Matty Healy. Louis lays his head on his desk.

“Oh god, you’re right,” Eleanor says from somewhere to the right of Louis’ desk.

“I told you,” Max says next to her.

He doesn’t look up. “Can you please just both leave me here to wallow in peace?”

“Well, no we can’t. I set you up with my bestfriend, and I’m kind of regretting it,” Eleanor says with a frown. Louis sits up at this, a guilty look crossing his face.

“Why? Does he hate me?” Louis asks anxiously.

“No,” Eleanor sighs. “He thinks you’re lovely and interesting and smart and beautiful. He also said you were a little distracted, and he wondered if you were just out of a relationship. I told him no, but was that even true?”

“I am not in a relationship and not just out of a relationship either, so that was true.”

Eleanor frowns. “You’re in love with someone else?”

“No! No, no, no, no, no,” he says emphatically. “No.”

“Yes,” Max whispers.

Louis looks at Max. “No?” This time it’s a question with fear in his voice.

Max’s eyes widen. “Not the time, not the time,” he mumbles. “Okay, Louis see you at lunch. Just Eleanor and I today!” he says too loudly as he starts walking away. Louis knows what this must mean. He steels himself to behave normally.

“Good morning,” he says brightly.

“Hi,” Harry croaks. He’s still wearing his sunglasses. He apparently did go out drinking with Matty Healy last night. “I’ll just be in my office.” He goes in and shuts the door. Louis sinks back into his chair and returns his head to his desk.

Harry, of course, does not appear before lunch. Louis heads out with just Eleanor and Max. “Where should we go?” he asks.

“The Langham?” Max asks casually.

Louis lets out a whimper. “What’s wrong with The Langham? We go there all the time. And Ed’s there. I thought you liked—Oh.”

“What?” Eleanor asks.

Max stops walking. “Louis.”

“Yeah.”

“There’s a reason we go to The Langham, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, great tacos. An outdoor patio.  And Ed.”

“How did you already know Ed?”

“He was there the first time I went there to eat on my own. And we talked a little.”

“What made you go there in the first place?”

“What’s with all the questions, Max? I was just—walking—and saw it. And—“

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying! I’m just—“

“Omitting the complete truth?” Max raises an eyebrow.

“I—I’d rather not say.”

Max frowns. “Okay.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Let’s go eat lunch,” Max sighs.

They arrive at The Langham, and Max eyes Louis as he looks up at the building wistfully.

“You always do that,” Max says.

“What?”

“You always look at this building like it’s breaking your heart. What is it about this place, Louis?” Max stops. “Sorry. I said I’d stop asking.”

They walk up to the bar where Eleanor is already talking to Ed. “I was just telling him about your date, Louis!”

“Oh,” Louis says with a weak smile. “Yeah, I kind of went on a date last night.”

Ed looks at him curiously. “How was it?”

“It was—good.” Louis shoots a nervous look at Eleanor. “Really good? I mean, he’s great. He’s very handsome and fun and interesting—“

Ed laughs. “You don’t have to convince me.”

Louis’ phone buzzes. He takes it out of his pocket and sees a text from Miles.

            _Had a great time with you! Would you like go back to Lollapalooza again tonight? I have VIP passes._

Louis stares at his phone. He must not have been too awful if Miles wants to see him again so soon.

            _Sounds amazing. What time?_

“Miles just texted me,” Louis says. “He wants to see me again tonight.”

“Oh my god!” Eleanor squeals. “He must really like you, Lou! I mean, I knew he kind of did just from what he said last night, but yay!”

Louis smiles as his phone buzzes again.

            _I can pick you up at your office whenever you get off work. We’ll head straight there and have dinner._

“But you can’t wear that!” Max wails. “Ugh. Okay, you can borrow the shirt I have on. It’s one of my favorites, so don’t ruin it.” Louis isn’t going to say no. He eyes Max’s maroon scoop neck shirt.

Max glares at Louis. “You’re going to look better than me in my favorite shirt, aren’t you? I hate you.”

Louis laughs. “I promise to not look better.”

“You can’t promise that,” Max grumbles.

*

Louis anxiously awaits the end of the day. It’s more nerve wracking to know they’ll be alone on their date this time. No Eleanor or their friends as a buffer. Well, the thousands of people at Lollapalooza and the music might work out as a buffer, he reasons. Max shows up at his desk at five o’clock.

“Come on. We’ll exchange shirts in the bathroom,” he says.

Louis stands and starts following him. “Yeah, maybe you should have let me do that yesterday.”

“Please, I let you change your pants in there. What more did you want?” he laughs. “Gave Hot Lips and I a chance to ogle you.”

They stand at the sinks and take their shirts off. They’re handing them to each other when the door to the bathroom swings open.

“Oh, uh—sorry—I can come back—“

Jesus. If Louis didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any at all. “We’re just trading shirts, Harry.”

Harry stands frozen in the doorway. His eyes locked on Louis’ skin.

“Not like you haven’t seen it before, eh, Harry?” Max jokes.

Harry’s face loses all color. “Did he tell you?”

Louis’ mouth hangs open, his mind not cooperating fast enough to save this.

“What?” Max’s eyes widen. “Tell me what? I meant you saw him shirtless yesterday.” Max looks back and forth between them.

“Oh. Right.” Harry says. Panic remains written on his face before he turns and walks back out of the bathroom.

“What the hell is going on?” Max demands. “He didn’t even go to the bathroom! He just ran on out of here! Did something actually happen between you two?”

Louis looks desperately at Max. “It’s not what you think.”

“What do I think then, Louis?”

“I don’t know, but nothing is going on between us.”

Max sighs. “Put my shirt on. You need to be ready when your date gets here.”

Louis puts the shirt on, and Max looks at him wistfully. “I knew it.”

“What?”

“You look better than me in my favorite shirt.”

They walk out of the bathroom to see Miles standing at Louis’ desk with Harry. “Oh, shit,” Max whispers.

Louis heart flips in his chest. The resemblance between Harry and Miles as they stand next to each other is both remarkable and inconsequential. Only one of them makes Louis’ pulse race.

Harry watches Louis as he walks towards them. Their eyes locked on one another. “He didn’t know which desk was yours. I told him you’d be right back,” Harry says as though he needs to explain his presence outside his own office.

“Hi!” Miles smiles brightly. “Ready to go?”

Louis swallows and tries to return the smile. “Yep.”

*

Miles chats excitedly about seeing Radiohead and about how amazing the food is as they sit in one of the VIP areas, eating and drinking cocktails. It’s an unbelievably different experience than being out on the main grounds. Definitely more low key and relaxing.

Miles suddenly grins and leans forward. “You look amazing tonight, Louis. I like your tattoos.” His eyes follow the words that peek out of the top of his shirt.

Louis blushes a bit. “Thanks. You look amazing, too. No surprise there.” And it’s true. Miles does look amazing. A simple black tee shirt and white jeans hang perfectly off his tall, slender frame. His long hair hangs down in lovely waves over his shoulders.

“So can I ask what your tattoo says?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Louis tugs aside the fabric to briefly show the words. “It says, ‘It is what it is.’ It’s sort of my motto, I guess.”

“I like it,” Miles says, his eyes gazing appreciatively. “Both what it says and what it looks like.”

When Radiohead begins their set, they find a good spot within the VIP area to watch. Miles slips an arm around Louis’ waist, and Louis tries desperately to be comfortable with it. He fears he’s still too stiff, and he hopes Miles chalks it up to nerves. Maybe that’s all it is anyway, nerves. He’s able to relax a bit the more the night wears on, the music weaving its own magic.

And when Miles kisses him gently, a bittersweet flutter runs through him as he kisses him back.

*

Louis awakes early and since he has nowhere to be, he lays in his bed, his earbuds in, listening to Coldplay. Liam must have knocked, but he didn’t hear it. Liam would never just barge in, but he peeks his head in, and Louis takes out one of his earbuds.

“Hey,” Liam says softly. “Wasn’t sure if you were up. I did knock.”

“I figured,” Louis says with a small smile.

“Whatcha listening to?”

“Coldplay,” he answers.

“Oh,” Liam says. Liam knows him too well. “Dare I ask which album?”

Louis sighs.

“Is it _A Rush of Blood to the Head_ bad?” Liam asks as he sits at the edge of the bed.

“Maybe,” Louis replies.

Liam lays down next to him and grabs the dropped ear bud. He puts it in his ear. “ _Green Eyes_. Which one’s got green eyes?”

Louis doesn’t say anything, but Liam already knows the answer anyway. The voice and guitar fade away gently as the song ends. “What are you going to do, Louis?”

“What can I do? It’s not like I have choices.”

“Lou, of course you have choices. You don’t have to date anyone for one thing. I know you call what you feel for Harry a dumb crush, but it seems like more than that to me. I think it seems like more than that to you, too.”

“Well, it’s unrequited, Liam. So I don’t know what you want me to do about it,” he says bitterly.

“I think you know that’s probably not true, Louis, but he’s in a weird spot. You both are. I think you need to talk about it, honestly.”

“There’s nothing to talk about Liam. Nothing is going on between us.”

“Yeah. That’s why you’re listening to _Green Eyes_ and wallowing in self-pity at eight o’clock in the morning the day after you went on a date with a model. Seriously though, you’ll only be Harry’s employee for the rest of this month. What happens after that, Louis? There will be no obstacles then. Why can’t you ask him to wait for you?”

“Why didn’t he ask _me_ to wait for _him_?”

“You’re both way too stubborn,” Liam groans. “I guess I don’t know the answer to that for sure, Lou, but I suspect he’s scared to ask, same as you.”

“Well, think what you want Liam, but the fact remains that Harry did not ask me to wait for him and instead starting seeing someone else.”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

“It’s not the same. He did it first! Matty said on stage that Harry’d been moping around. Probably because Nick went back to the UK.”

Liam shakes his head. “Do you even hear yourself, Lou?” he sighs. “What are you going to do about Miles?”

“I don’t know,” Louis looks at him helplessly. “He’s very nice. I like him a lot.”

Liam smiles. “If you’re ready to move on from Harry, I like that this guy is a good one. You know I’ll support whatever you decide to do.”

“I know.”

Louis’ phone starts vibrating on the table where it’s charging. Liam disconnects the phone and hands it to Louis. “It’s Miles,” he says.

“You should answer it,” Liam says as he walks out of the room.

Louis isn’t sure if he’s sad or relieved that Miles can’t see him again before he returns to New York for work. They chat on the phone for a bit. Miles apologizes, but he’ll be with his family the next two days in the suburbs. He claims he’ll call and text, and he wants to see Louis again when he comes back in two weeks.

*

If there’s a new strain on Harry and Louis’ working relationship, they both ignore it. Neither of them mention Lollapalooza. Miles makes good on his promise to text, almost every day, with a few sporadic phone calls. A bouquet of roses even shows up one day at his desk. Roses may not be his favorite, but it’s an awfully sweet thing to do. Harry complains about the smell and wonders aloud who even still sends roses as an adult until Louis points out the rose tattoo on his arm. Harry stops talking about them.

*

Ed and his brother-in-law take Louis out to see apartments seeing as how he’ll need a place soon. Ed is working on his real estate license, so this is all good practice for him. Seeing the possible apartments near campus makes it all seem more real to Louis, and he lets the anticipation of it seep through him and form some excitement for the next part of his life.

As they look at a third apartment, Ed brings up Miles. “So you still seeing that Miles guy? The one your friend set you up with?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess.”

Ed looks at him curiously. “Just not that into him?”

Louis looks at the floor. “It’s sort of more complicated than that.”

“Ah, still have a thing for the boss, huh?”

“Pathetic, I know.”

“Nah. Not pathetic. So is there any chance for you two after you’re done there? You only have a few weeks left, right?”

“Just until the end of the month, but I don’t know if he’s still seeing someone else or if he’s even interested.”

“So talk to him.”

“Why do people keep saying that?”

“Just say, ‘Bro, so you still seein’ that other dude or what? When I’m done here you wanna go out?’ “

Louis laughs. “Well, that’s one option. But I mean, I’m seeing someone else now. I wouldn’t say it’s serious with Miles, but it’s something. It’s maybe the beginning of something. He’s nice and interesting, and I like him.” Louis lets his mind picture Miles’ happy smile.

“My mom always says you’ll know when they feel like home. Do either of them feel like home to you?”

Lightning strikes of memories flash through his mind. Harry lying in the grass at the park, Harry at ease in his kitchen cooking, Harry with his head in his hands trying not to care so much, Harry taking photographs with his long fingers stretched around the camera, Harry straining to hold himself still inside of him.

Louis’ heart pounds. He looks to Ed with panic.

“Sorry, bro,” Ed chuckles.

A text comes through as he rides the train back to Liam’s apartment.

            _I’ll be back in town next weekend! I’d love to see you. xx_

He slouches down in his seat and closes his eyes.

*

“So this was a bit of a cop out, don’t you think?”

“Shut up, Max,” Louis says as they wait in the huge, bustling entryway of the Museum of Science & Industry.

“I’m just saying I find it a little curious that you’re on another group date with him. Like you’re in, oh I dunno, middle school?”

“He’s only in town for two days. I thought maybe he’d like to see Eleanor while he was here.”

“Mmhmm, sure. And how about the four other people you invited for a Sunday afternoon date at the museum? So romantic!”

“Can we not talk about this right now?”

“Fine I’ll stop—oh my fucking god.” He looks in alarm at Louis. “I’m really sorry for giving you shit because you are in a lot of it right now.” Max grabs his arm and drags him to the side of a large steam engine standing sentry at one end. “Okay, who all did you tell to come?”

“What? Why?”

“Answer the question!”

“Uh, Eleanor, Perrie, Sophia, you, Miles, and Liam’s busy, so—“

“Okay, well you have about five minutes to compose yourself because Harry is in the ticket line with Perrie and Sophia.”

Louis whips his head around to look, but there’s no time to prepare because Eleanor and Miles appear in front of him. He lets out a squeal that he tries to force into a cough. Miles envelops him in a hug.

“It’s so good to see you,” he says with a smile as Miles releases him.

Louis tries to smile back. He’s trying so hard. It’s just not easy when he knows any minute Harry is going to walk up to join them.

“Hiya, Lou! Gonna introduce me to yer mates?” Niall claps Louis on the back.

“Niall? What are you—“

“Harry invited me along. Can ya believe I’ve never been here?” Louis looks beyond Niall where Sophia and Perrie are standing next to him and behind them is Harry.

“Harry! I didn’t know you were coming!” Eleanor exclaims.

“Um, yeah, well Niall’s never been, and I sort of invited myself along with Sophia and Perrie when they were talking about it yesterday. Just thought it would be a good opportunity—for Niall, I mean.”

“Hi, Niall, I’m Eleanor. And this is my friend, Miles,” Eleanor says with a smile.

“Hi, love. Been a mate of Harry’s for many years. Nice to meet ya, Miles.

“You look familiar,” Miles says as he shakes Niall’s hand.

“Ah, ya must watch sports then. ‘Em a sportscaster. You’ve probably seen me on the telly then, givin’ ya the Cubs score.”

“Yeah! Okay, that is where I’ve seen you!” Miles says before he turns back to Louis. “Well, we have quite the group here, Louis.”

“Um, yep. We do.”

Miles threads his arm through Louis’ and leads the group up the escalators.

“I love coming to the museums in Chicago,” Miles says as they stroll towards an exhibit. “This is a great one, but my favorite’s probably The Art Institute.”

“That’s Harry’s favorite, too,” Louis says without thinking.

“Is it?” Miles muses as he shoots a look across towards Harry. “He looks familiar, too, but I can’t place him.”

“Oh, uh, he was at Lollapalooza. He—knows Matty Healy apparently.”

“Oh my god! The heartbroken guy who came out on stage!” Miles laughs.

“I don’t know if he’s really heartbroken—“

“So who is Harry again? To you, I mean?”

“He’s—my boss. I’m his assistant.

“Oh,” Miles turns to look at Louis more closely. “A bit odd for him to have come, isn’t it?”

“Is it?” Louis asks. Without waiting for a response, he points to the Science Storms. “Should we start there maybe?”

They wander through swirling tornadoes and design waves for a tsunami. Louis can sense Harry’s gaze, but he tries not to return it. Louis watches Niall monopolize the wave design system as a young boy takes photographs of Niall’s waves with a sturdy looking orange camera.

“Did you want to make a wave?” he hears Harry ask the boy. “I can ask my friend to give you a turn.”

The boy peers up at him through his glasses. “No, thanks. I’d rather just photograph them.”

His mother wrangles a smaller boy into a stroller. “Thanks for that. He only wants to take pictures of everything for some reason,” she says with a shrug.

Harry smiles. “I know just how he feels.”

The woman looks up to see Harry holding an obviously expensive camera and laughs. “Are you a photographer then?”

“Yes, for the Tribune, actually.”

“Oh! I follow their Instagram account! I love it!”

Harry smiles. He meets Louis’ eyes. “Thanks,” Harry says as he motions at Louis. “He’s the one that writes it all and chooses the photos. Some are mine, some aren’t. We make a good team, I think.”

The woman looks at Louis. “Well, you’re all amazing over there. I really love that account.”

“Thanks,” he replies, his eyes finding Harry’s for a long moment before their friends round them up to head to the next exhibit.

They see the two young boys again in the Genetics exhibit joined by another young boy and girl, their moms chatting nearby. The boy with the camera is again solemnly photographing the baby chicks in the hatchery as he stands with a younger girl dressed all in pink, her dark curls falling over her shoulder. The little girl turns to Louis. “Would you like to see my lunch box?”

“Oh—well, sure. Do you have it with you?”

She turns to her mother. “I need my lunch box to show him.” She turns back to Louis holding a sparkly, pink lunchbox.  “It’s a princess one. When you see it, you have to bow to it.”

“Of course,” Louis replies as he takes a deep bow to the lunchbox. “I quite like your hair by the way. It reminds me of someone I know.”

“Yes, it looks just like that man’s hair,” she says, pointing at Harry who is standing nearby. “Do you like his hair, too?”

“Uh, yes. I do. It’s very—nice as well.”

“Yes, his is very nice. You should tell him you like his hair, too.”

He looks up at Harry to see him trying to hide a smile, his nose scrunched up a bit as he looks in at the chicks. “Yeah, maybe I will.”

At that moment, the youngest boy in the stroller knocks his mother’s purse to the ground spilling its contents across the floor. Harry immediately drops to the floor and begins helping her pick up the stray items, and Louis comes over to help as well. Their fingers brush against each other as they place things back in her purse, sending sparks shooting across Louis’ skin. Louis stands quickly as the woman thanks them. As he walks away back towards where he last saw Miles, the little girl calls out after him, “Don’t forget to tell him what you think about his hair!”

They tour through a German submarine and design a toy with an assembly line of robots. They send inappropriate whispers across the Whispering Gallery and descend into the mine shaft of a coal mine. Niall sits out the coal mine. “Ya won’t be catchin’ me stuck in some mine shaft. I’ll take Sophia to get some ice cream back in the Main Street area. Meet ya there, mates,” he says as he takes Sophia’s hand and whisks her away.

They meet back at the ice cream shop and share giant sundaes that spill out over the tops of the old fashioned glass dishes. Louis sits at a table alone with Miles and feels a little guilty for how little time they’ve been able to spend together.

Miles must be thinking the same. “This was fun and all, but I didn’t really get to spend any time with just you,” he says.

“I’m sorry,” Louis says quietly. “Maybe this wasn’t the right thing to plan for today.”

Miles sighs. “No, it was still really great, Louis. Don’t be sorry. But maybe you could give me your undivided attention tonight—“

The metal chair at a table behind them screeches out loudly across the concrete floor as someone slides their chair back roughly. Louis turns toward the noise to see Harry standing up from the table. “Sorry, was that loud?” he asks as he pushes the chair back in just as loudly with a strange look on his face.

Louis turns back to Miles. “Sorry, you were saying?”

Miles looks at Harry curiously. “Uh, well I was asking you to go out with me tonight. Dinner? Maybe a movie if it isn’t too late? I know you have to work tomorrow.”

“Um, sure. Sounds great,” Louis tries to reply over the loud clanking of Harry putting his dish and spoon into the bin on top of the trash can.

Everyone seems to have finished, and Miles stands up from the table. “Well, we have to do the mirror maze before we go. That’s the best part!”

As they walk through the exhibit, they see displays of hidden patterns of nature, veins of a leaf, a giraffe’s spots, a nautilus spiral until they arrive at the maze of mirrors. As it’s late in the day, their group is the only one approaching the maze. The strange glow of the forest of mirrors tessellates to create a seemingly infinite pattern, eerie but beautiful. As they step in Niall suddenly shouts, “Race ya to the end ya wankers!” Louis is so intrigued by the maze that he ignores the race as everyone rushes off bumping through the maze, laughing. He reaches his hands out in front of him as he slowly walks through, turning corners only to be confronted with his own reflection in triplicate. He finds if he stands in a particular spot a screen appears with a hidden game to follow. He follows a few of them before finding himself in a dead end. Or is it? It’s almost a hidden room with seemingly concealed artifacts. He glances around at the multiple reflections of himself, and suddenly it feels like too much. The laughter he heard has long since faded as his friends chased each other through the maze. He looks at the mirrors and is confronted with only himself. He stares at his reflection, his pulse beginning to pick up as he can’t look away from the conflicted face before him. He sinks to the floor and sits, eyes closed. He just needs a minute. He’s not sure how much time passes, but this is how he looks when Harry finds him.

“Lou?” he says softly as he sits down beside him. “Are you okay?”

Louis opens his eyes and looks forward into the reflection of Harry sat beside him, his hand reaching for him before pulling away. It would have gone unnoticed anywhere but a maze of mirrors, reflecting back every motion, every intention. Even though Harry hasn’t touched him, Louis can feel the current running between them. He glances away from the reflection, helplessly, and looks into Harry’s eyes. The electricity burns there, too. The turmoil shows in both their images splashed across the walls.

“Lou,” Harry says roughly. His low voice hums through Louis. It’s too much.

“I’m not lost,” Louis says.

“I didn’t think you were,” Harry says as he leans in, his lips brushing lightly against Louis’. Sparks ignite from the kiss into his brain, short circuiting any thoughts that had lingered. Louis only realizes his eyes have closed when they fly open at the sound of Niall’s voice.

“Where’s this bloody secret room anyway? Ah, here ya two are! Found him, huh, H?” Niall says as he barges into the room. “Alright? Seen enough, me. Gettin’ claustrophobic in here.” He reaches out a hand to help Harry up. Harry’s face has turned to stone, but he takes Niall’s hand up. Louis’ lips still burn with the ghost of Harry’s touch as they make their way through to the end of the maze where Miles waits, his arm outstretched to take Louis’ hand in his.

*

At dinner that night, Louis can’t shake the specter of Harry’s presence. As he’d left the museum with Max, Harry’s eyes seemed to burn through him with pent up meaning. What did that kiss mean? Did it change anything at all? No alcohol to blame on a drunken mistake, only a charged moment. Sitting at a table with a beautiful man is probably not the time to think about it. He glances up at Miles as he senses the silence that has found them. Miles looks at him, a question in his eyes.

“Sorry,” Louis says with a guilty smile. “I was a million miles away.”

“With who?”

“What?” Louis wrinkles his nose in confusion. “No, I just meant I was lost in thought.“

“Yes, I know,” Miles says, a touch of resignation to the sound. “Who was there in your thoughts?”

“Oh. I—I don’t—“

“If I just didn’t work so much, if I was around more, I would have a chance.”

“What?”

“I would steal your heart away from whoever isn’t keeping it safe.”

“Oh.” Louis looks at him with regret.  “It’s—more complicated than that.”

Miles stands up and allows a fond look to cross his face. “I think you need to decide what you really want. Let me know if you ever get over him, Louis.”

*

Louis drags himself into work. He didn’t sleep well. Again. Honestly, he’s not happy with himself for screwing up with Miles and for what? Harry hasn’t said a damn thing to him. Just kissed him again. Just messed with his head again. He really doesn’t want to face Eleanor. He hopes she doesn’t know yet. He decides to be thankful for small mercies when he discovers Harry is in meetings all morning. He knows he’s a coward, but he leaves for lunch early to avoid any possibility of a confrontation with Eleanor. He hopes Max steers them away from The Langham because that’s where he walks to when he needs a minute to himself. He walks his now familiar route and sits at his now familiar seat and talks to a now familiar face.

“When you come alone, I know something’s happened, you know,” Ed says.

“I’m not known for my subtlety, Ed,” Louis replies.

Ed lets out a bark of laughter. “So this about Harry then?”

“How do you know his name?” Louis exclaims.

“Word travels fast, my friend.”

“You mean, Max does,” Louis grumbles.

“Now don’t go blaming Max. I just happened to ask him once for your boss’ name. So you’re the one who just spilled it.”

“You tricked me!” Louis says.

“I’m glad you stopped by today though. I got something that might cheer you up. I think I found you the perfect apartment. You got time after work today to come look at it with me?”

“Yeah, sure.” He stands up from his seat. “I’m gonna take a piss. I’ll be right back, and you can tell me about it.” As he moves across the patio and heads for the main entryway of the hotel, he doesn’t see a man standing at the edge of the patio watching him. The man approaches the bar.

“Hi,” he says to Ed.

“What can I get you?”

“Um, lemonade? And this might sound really weird, but is your name Ed?”

“Yes, it is.”

“I see.” The man looks at Ed strangely.

“Do I know you?”

“Uh, no. I don’t think so. I just um, know someone who knows you, I think. I think some of the people where I work come here for lunch.”

“Where do you work?”

“The Tribune.”

Ed’s face dawns in recognition of who this might be. “Your name wouldn’t happen to be Harry, would it?”

It’s Harry’s turn to look astonished. “Well, yes, but how do you know that?”

Ed gives him a sideways look. “You’ve been mentioned.”

“By who?”

Ed raises an eyebrow.

“Louis?” Harry asks a bit desperately.

“From time to time. Thought maybe when he started seeing someone he meant you, but I guess you weren’t interested.” Ed looks Harry up and down, sizing him up as though he can’t imagine Harry should be rejecting Louis.

“I’m his boss. I’m not allowed to be interested.”

“How much longer are you his boss for? Can’t be much longer.”

“A few weeks, I guess?” Harry says weakly.

“Sounds like there’s not much stopping you then if you were really interested.”

“He’s seeing someone else,” Harry says defensively.

“Well, then. I guess you can just let him slip on through your fingers seeing some model who doesn’t make him happy.”

“He’s not happy?”

“Just my professional opinion as a bartender.” Ed smiles. “And I guess as Louis’ friend, too. You going to stay and talk to him?”

“What?”

“He just left for the bathroom. He’s coming back.”

Harry looks at him in alarm. “Uh, no. I’ll—just talk to him later. Could you—maybe not mention that I was here?”

Ed frowns, but nods his head.

“Thank you—I’ll try, you know. To fix this, I mean.”

“You do that, Harry,” Ed says as Harry strides away.

*

Harry is already in his office when Louis returns from lunch. The door closed of course. Louis can’t wait for this day to be over. He hopes seeing this fabulous apartment Ed’s going to show him will be enough to lift his spirits. It’s nearing five o’clock when Max comes to his desk.

“I can tell by your moping that things must not have gone well with Miles last night.”

Louis frowns at him. “Yeah, it wasn’t great.”

“Well, I don’t think Eleanor knows anything yet, if that helps.”

“A little.”

“You want to hang out? Go get a drink?”

“No, I’m meeting Ed to go see an apartment in half an hour. I think I’ll just go hang out on the balcony until it’s time to meet him.”

Max sighs. “Fine. Text me if you need company.”

“Thanks, Max.”

Louis finds his way out onto the balcony of the building. He stands at the stone rails trying to find peace in the views of the river and the city that he’s grown to love so quickly in the time he’s lived here.

“Hi.”

Louis cringes at the sound of Harry’s voice.

“Max told me where to find you. I hope that’s okay.” Harry voice grows closer.

Louis doesn’t respond, so Harry continues. “You’ve been having lunch at the hotel where we met.” It sounds more like an accusation than a question.

Louis whips around at this information. “What did you do? Follow me?” he demands.

Harry’s face flushes. “Yes. I—saw you leave today, and I—well, I guess I followed you to The Langham.”

“You guess?”

“I just wanted to talk to you, but I got—I was surprised when you went there. And I guess I—got scared.”

Louis doesn’t respond.

“Are you seeing Miles?”

“Not today,” Louis answers.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. Is he your boyfriend?” Harry inhales deeply as though to brace himself for the answer.

“No. We—he’s not my boyfriend.”

Harry releases the breath he was holding.

“God, don’t do this Harry. He’s a good person, you know? Miles. He treats me really well—“

“I’d treat you well, Louis.  I want to take you to dinner and send you flowers and cook you meals and show you my favorite places. Fuck, Louis, I did some of those things even when I shouldn’t have. I couldn’t help myself. I’m sorry, okay? I told myself I wouldn’t try to tie you to me when I couldn’t really be with you. I didn’t think it would be fair.”

“You know what’s not fair, Harry? You saying this to me now. You wait until I’m seeing someone to finally interfere. You didn’t want me, and now you’re jealous someone else does.”

“You’re damn right I’m jealous. You don’t think I wanted the chance to show you that I want you?  I wanted to be the one to take you to Lollapalooza and impress you. I know Matty Healy for fuck’s sake. I’m jealous of every person who gets your time who isn’t me.”

Louis stands in front of him, stiffly.

“Are you happy?“ Harry asks as he runs a hand through his hair.

“What? “

“Are you happy? Because if you’re happy with Miles, I will stop interfering. I want you to be happy, Louis. “

“I don’t know. Are you happy, Harry?”

“Nope. I’m not with you, so no I’m not happy. Louis, have you asked yourself why you keep going back to the place where we first met?”

“No—yes, I go there for the tacos and the outdoor patio and Ed.”

Harry laughs. “Is that really what you tell yourself? Well, when you can tell me Miles is your boyfriend or that you’re happy, I’ll stop interfering. But until then I’m going to go home and dream up ways to interfere.” He leaves Louis with a breathtaking smile, his dimples creasing his face, his green eyes sparkling in the late summer afternoon sun.

*

Louis stands in front of The Langham waiting for Ed. He scowls at it as though this mess is all its fault.

“I see you’re not in a great mood,” Ed says as he appears at his side. “Maybe it’s not the right time to go see this apartment.”

“No, I’m fine,” he tries to smile.

“Is that you trying to smile? You look like you’re going to puke on my shoes.”

Louis stops smiling. “Fine. I’m not in a good mood. Your apartment is supposed to make me feel better, remember?”

“Well, it’s still just an apartment, not a miracle worker.”

“Sorry, it’s just—I sort of got into it with Harry just now.”

“About what?”

Louis ignores the question and answers with another one. “Did I ever tell you The Langham is where Harry and I met?”

“Is that why you were just giving it dirty looks?”

“Maybe.”

They drive north towards Evanston, talking as they edge closer to Northwestern’s campus.

“So one of the best parts about this apartment is that it’s ready to move into. They let someone out of their lease early.  So they’d love to get someone to move in as soon as possible. I’d recommend that if you want it, you sign quickly before someone else does.”

They pull up to a row of small brick buildings. “Not that many units in each one, so I thought you might like that. I know you didn’t really want undergrad neighbors partying at all hours.”

“Yeah, I like the neighborhood, too,” Louis says as he glances down the street.

The apartment is lovely with hardwood floors and large windows letting in plenty of light. The kitchen is plenty spacious enough for Louis, and he likes the look of the subway tiled bathroom. He comes out of the bedroom with a genuine smile on his face. “Ed, man, this looks great. Sign me up for real.”

“So this is the one? I’m glad I could help you, Lou,” Ed says with a smile.

“You really did. I can’t thank you en—“ Louis’ phone starts buzzing with a text. “Hold up, sorry.” He reaches in his pocket and can feel the phone buzzing off and on incessantly. “What the hell?” He looks at his phone. He has texts from Max and Perrie and Sophia, multiple ones from each it looks like. He opens Max’s first. The first message is just large red exclamation points. “Okay,” he mumbles as he looks at the next that just says, IG. The third message says,

            _What the hell is going on???????? Why haven’t you said anything?????? do you even know? Have you checked IG yet? GO LOOK NOW AT THE TRIBUNE’S IG_

Louis looks at Ed in alarm. “Uh, I’m getting all these texts to check The Tribune’s Instagram.”

“I thought you posted all the Tribune’s Instagram photos.”

“Yeah, so did I.”

His fingers tremble as he pulls up The Tribune’s Instagram. The last post is of a photo he’s never seen before, a photograph of himself on the viewfinder of Harry’s camera. On the viewfinder is a close up of Louis’ profile, the sun streaming in behind him so that the sunburst is the only background the viewer can see.

Ed looks over his shoulder. “Uh, that’s you.”

“Yeah,” Louis says, dazed.

“What’s the caption say?”

Louis, still shocked to see his face staring up at him, looks back at the post and reads the lyrics Harry has posted as the caption.

_You look so beautiful in this light/Your silhouette over me/The way it brings out the blue in your eyes/Is the Tenerife Sea #summerlove_

Louis’ hand shakes as he tries to hold the phone steady.

“Well, that is—bold as hell,” Ed declares. “He did fulfill your weekly Insta challenge though. This week _was_ ‘#summerlove.’”

“What the fuck does he think he’s doing?” Louis looks incredulous as he stares at his phone. “Is he trying to get fired?” He looks at Ed as though he has an answer.

The comments and likes on the photo have already surpassed an entire day’s worth for some of their other posts. “Guess I should have just posted photos of my face every day,” he grumbles as he clicks out of Instagram and tries to call Harry. It goes straight to voicemail.

“Okay, he just posted this possibly career ending declaration, and he doesn’t even have his phone on.”

“Well, you should probably go find him then.”   

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Where’s he live?”

“Lincoln Park.”

“Great. It’s on my way anyway. I’ll take you there.”

*

Louis stands outside Harry’s house, sweating, and not just because it’s an August night in Chicago. When Harry said he was going to interfere, Louis assumed he meant he was going to start calling him on the phone or make up excuses to see him at work, not post love songs and photographs of him on their work Instagram. He finally gathers the courage to press the buzzer.

“Niall, I swear to god, if you’ve come over here to give me more shit—“

“It’s Louis.”

“Oh.”

A few beats of silence trickles by before Louis says, “Hello?” into the box just as the door bursts open. Harry stands in the doorway in just a pair of brief, black boxers that immediately draw Louis’ eye.

Louis almost cracks a joke, but then he hears the panic in Harry’s voice as he says “Louis?”

Harry looks as panicked as his voice sounds. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. Please don’t yell at me. I’ll take it down. I went too far. I never meant to cause you trouble—“

“Harry, I—“

“Oh god, has Miles seen it? I can explain what happened. I can explain that—“

“Harry! Stop. Can I please just come in? It’s fucking hot out here.”

“Oh, right. Yes. Of course.” He opens the door wider and ushers him inside.

“And could you please put on some pants or something? Otherwise, there won’t be much talking happening.”

“Sorry, sorry, I thought it was Niall. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“Oh for fuck’s—That’s not what I meant, Harry. You’re misunderstanding why I’m here.”

“I’m sorry! I don’t want to mess this up, and I feel like I have. And I said I would interfere, but I didn’t mean to—I’m just—“ He stops. With desperation written across his face, he says, “I want you to choose me, Louis.”

Louis closes his eyes. He can still feel the magnetism that has pulled them together from the start, but it’s more than that now. He knows Harry. He knows Harry likes obscure indie rock bands, he knows Harry drinks coffee blended up with organic butter, he knows he scrunches up his nose when he’s trying not to laugh, he knows he is passionate about his work, he knows he uses his influence to try to make the world more aware. He always wears at least four rings. He always wears the one cross necklace. He always wears his shirts unbuttoned. He always watches Louis when he thinks he won’t notice. When you add all these small things together, they equal the man Louis has been falling for since the moment Harry offered him his drink.

“Please, Louis. Choose me.”

Louis opens his eyes. “Harry?”

“Yes?”

“It’s always been you, Harry. I’m not with Miles. It was always you.”

Harry stares at him blankly for a moment before his face alights with a happiness that takes Louis’ breath away. Harry crosses the space between them in an instant. Before Louis can react, Harry’s lips are pressing against his own and the only thing left in his mind are bolts of lightning firing through him. Harry’s hands cradle Louis’ face as he controls and deepens the kiss as Louis runs his hands up the bare skin of Harry’s back, the muscles tensing beneath his fingertips.

Harry stops kissing him and leans away so that only his forehead is touching Louis’. “I never knew that this could mean so much,” he whispers as he takes Louis’ hands in his own, entwining their fingers. “Louis, tell me what you want.”

“You’ve asked me that before,” he says with a grin.

Harry laughs, but then says, “That wasn’t an answer, Lou. I don’t want to rush you or this, but if you want me, I’m yours.”

Louis presses his body against Harry and says, “Lead the way.”

The green fire of Harry’s eyes never stray from him as he draws Louis down the hallway and into his bedroom, where he slowly runs his hand under Louis’ shirt and then up and over his head. He pulls Louis onto the bed, pressing him into the cool, white sheets. He attaches his lips to Louis’ neck, sucking as Louis moans, before allowing his lips and tongue to burn a path down Louis’ body. When he reaches Louis’ pants, he slowly peels them over his hips and down his legs, his fingers brushing against the skin he reveals. His lips trace his way back up Louis’ legs, brushing lightly against the tattoos he finds on his path. Louis sees the reverence on Harry’s face as he travels back up his body. He reaches the small amount of fabric still concealing Louis and noses at his now erect dick. Harry finally pulls back the fabric and fills his large hands with Louis’ ass just as he takes Louis into his mouth and down his throat. Louis shouts as Harry slowly pulls back, his tongue dragging against the underside of Louis’ dick as he pulls off.

Louis’ fingers fist at the sheets as he moans Harry’s name over and over as Harry slides his lips and mouth and tongue down the length of his cock. He pulls off before Louis comes. “Lou?” he asks, his voice rough.

Louis tries to focus on Harry’s face. “Lou, you need to tell me what you want.”

“I don’t know—anything—everything. What do you want, Harry?”

“I want you to burn for me the way I burn for you. I want to know you’re mine and no one else’s. I want to fuck you into my mattress until the only word you can say is my name.”

Louis stares at the fierce look on Harry’s face. “Yes—yes, I do, Harry. I’m yours. Now do that,” he croaks.

Harry reaches into a drawer before pulling his boxers down his legs, releasing himself. He slicks up his fingers and lies alongside him. He runs his hands down Louis’ chest and over his hard dick before sliding one finger into him slowly. He slides his finger in and out as he brushes his lips against Louis’ lips. Louis’ breath comes in gasps against Harry’s lips. Harry watches his face as he fills Louis with a second finger, and Louis is gasping again. He kisses Louis, licking into his mouth as he finds a slow rhythm with both as he presses in a third finger. Their dicks slide between them as Louis’ heart pounds so hard, it’s all he can hear.  Louis pulls his mouth away from the almost punishing kiss. He again gasps for breath as he says, “Harry—please—now—I’m ready.”

Harry slides his fingers out and slides a condom on and turns Louis over. He slides his cock over Louis, teasing him before entrance into his body.  Louis moans. Harry presses into him slowly and presses his body against him.  Harry’s face is nestled in his neck, his shallow breath hot against his cheek. His arms entwine with Louis’ locking them in place as he grasps Louis’ hands tightly as an anchor as he pushes in and out, slowly at first until Louis begs for more. His body slides against him. He picks up the pace, thrusting harder and faster into Louis. Louis cries out as the only friction he gets is from the bed beneath him. “Touch me—please—I can’t.”

Harry releases one arm so as to wrap one large hand around Louis who comes as soon as Harry slides his fingers down around him. Harry pumps his hand a few times as he continues to thrust into him when Louis says, “Always been you, Harry—only you.” Harry comes with a shout.

*

Harry’s head is laying across Louis’ chest as he runs his fingers through the curls, when Harry says, “I’m still sorry I sort of sprung the Instagram thing on you. I just went home and started thinking about what you said. Well, what you said about Miles, I guess, and I got scared that I was losing you. You were trying to move on from me, and my pledge to interfere started taking on some new meaning for me.”

“Harry, what the hell though. What about work? Why did you do that? Aren’t you going to get in trouble?”

“Oh, uh. Well, technically you don’t work for me anymore.”

“What?” Louis sits up.

“As of about five-thirty someone has officially accepted the social media director job.”

“Harry! Is that what the meetings were about then?”

“Yes, I—uh—maybe accelerated the hiring process a little today. I’m guessing they aren’t all going to love that I posted something personal on the Tribune Instagram, but seeing as how it has so many likes and comments, I’m sure they’ll get over it. Guess we should have been posting photos of your face on there all along.”

“That’s what I told Ed,” Louis laughs, but his fingers pause in Harry’s hair. “Harry, I feel like we haven’t really discussed what’s between us.”

“Louis, I declared my love for you to seventy-five thousand people today.”

“Is that what that was? A declaration of love?”

Harry pins him to the bed. “Lou, I quoted Ed Sheeran.”

Louis laughs.

“Was that not enough? Fine, I love you, Louis Tomlinson. Was that direct enough for you? Should I make another Instagram post?”

“Maybe.” Louis grins.

Harry stares at him, his eyes speaking his truth. “I’ll say it as many times as you like, Louis.  A thousand ways. A thousand times. To anyone who will listen.”

Louis looks into Harry’s eyes and says, “You set my heart on fire, Harry. Only you.”

*

 

 

 

 

Tumblr post--[You're the Light](http://allwaswell16.tumblr.com/post/150736160836/youre-the-light-by-allwaswell16-explicit-31k)

Come talk to me anytime on tumblr! xx      

Thanks to softhie for this moodboard--[You're the Light](http://softhie.tumblr.com/post/150877625405/youre-the-light-by-allwaswell16-31k-before) (including this manip below which blew my mind!)

                                                                                                                                                                

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to anyone who read this, my accidental ode to Chicago and Mexican food! My beta ate a lot of tacos whilst editing this. 
> 
> Also, thank you to the Squadron. I can’t tell you what it means to me to be a part of a community of amazing writers and artists. You are all so inspiring. Thanks for taking the candy. xx


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